The Bandit of Orre
by deadly maelstrom
Summary: "Yep, that 'bout sums it up. Someone once told me that the path of a Pokémon trainer is sorta like that one myth where the guy has to roll the boulder up a hill and it'll just roll back down when he gets there...That's just the nature of the game. Everyone fightin' for a seat at the top. And like a fuckton of other people, I wanna be the very best." -Jazz Heterodyne
1. You Gotta Fire Up

Updated 4/15/2016

 **Chapter 1**

 **You Gotta Fire Up**

The world we live is one that is shared and is maintained by a vital balance between humans and nature. At the center of this balance is the relationship between humans and Pokémon. Some legends say that in the beginning, humans and Pokémon were one in the same. Others claim we lived as separately as this world would allow. But something changed. When we began the path of settling the land, raising crops, and building cities, Pokémon became more than other creatures. They were our neighbors. At times they aided us and, at times they hindered us. From this our pact was formed. We would be allowed have our homes, call on them for aid, and travel through the lands as long as their homes were not damaged in the process.

Over the countless eons our relationship has grown even more. Pokémon became an integral part of our society. Our economy, labor force, and even ours wars have been affected by Pokémon. In the modern era, the relationship between humans and Pokémon is closer than ever thought possible. Some keep Pokémon as pets in their household. Some use them to create dazzling spectacles. Some make them as powerful as deities.

Our story will focus on last of these groups. To them, Pokémon are not simply tools or pets. These humans and Pokémon fight alongside one another, push each other to new heights, and will even risk their lives for one another. They are partners, friends, and family. These humans are known simply as Pokémon trainers. This is the tale of one of them, a sixteen-year-old young woman named Jazz Heterodyne.

It was nine in the morning in Pallet Town. With the sun warming her dark brown skin, she stood in the plaza of the small town with a teeth showing smile and narrowed eyes. The treads on her boots had been walked through hell. Frays nicked her orange high cut jacket and shorts. The beige bandana around her neck was wearing thin. Her red tinted goggles had numerous scratches on the lenses. The brown shirt she wore hardly hid the stains. Her legs had countless scars both faded and recent. The tips of her of ponytailed dreadlocks were dyed the same crimson as her eyes. Two pieces of apparel set her apart from a simple traveler, though. The first was a second belt that hung loosely from her waist and held six Pokéballs. The other was a bracelet on her right arm containing a Keystone.

At Jazz's sides stood her long time partners, Beat the Lucario and Rhythm the Gardevoir. Beat's Mega stone was set in a bracelet on her arm and, Rhythm's was the center piece of her necklace. A light chuckle escaped as she noticed the crowd around them grow. "Double battle, two outta three, right?" She said to her opponent who nodded with a cocky grin. Jazz grabbed two Pokéballs from her belt and threw them high into air shouting, "Darude! Tiësto! Showtime!" Out of the white lights emerged a shiny Dragonite and an Electivire. Their opponents: a Metagross and Darmantan.

"Electric rain! Follow-up: Tiësto, Dig: track 3! Darude, Hone Claws!" While the opponents looked dumbfounded, a field of light electric sparks emerged from Tiësto and Darude formed and released a glowing blue orb that became a localized rain shower. The resulting steam obscured the vision of the Pokémon except for Darude, whose Hone Claws improved his vision.

An Incinerate and Psyshock erupted from the other side. The Incinerate did nothing more than fly over a fresh hole in the ground and, Darude was only grazed by the Psyshock. He then went through an over exaggerated stagger. "Zen Headbutt!"

The Metagross tucked its arms in and propelled itself at Darude. Jazz didn't say a word and let her Pokémon vanish into the steam and deliver a Sucker Punch. "Fly, aim at the Fire type! Tiësto, on my mark!"

"Bulk-up and Iron Defense!" The other trainer called.

Jazz's eyes scanned sky over the battle waiting for the shadow of a Dragonite to appear. When the clouds were momentary pierced a loud "Mark!" signaled the attacked. Darude crashed fist first into the Darmantan and, Tiësto burst from ground and sent the Metagross into the air. "Darude get in one of the holes; Tiësto, Bonnaroo: track 2!"

Arcs of electricity rose from the ground and connected with Tiësto. The Electric Terrain broke apart and flowed into him. Tiësto's body glowed yellow and cracked with electric charges before he let loose a dome of electricity. Both the Metagross and the Darmantan were caught in the attack the edge of which was close enough to the trainers to stand their hair on end. The light faded as did the steam and revealed that Tiësto was the only one left standing until Darude poked his head up.

"Nice work you two." Jazz said before recalling her Pokémon. The other trainer recalled his Pokémon though his smile had since faded. Jazz waved to the crowd when she heard their applause. As the rain died the next round began. "Icona! Jimi! Show time!" Jazz's next two Pokémon were a second shiny Dragonite and a Torterra. Her opponent was taken aback by this but, sent out his next pair of Pokémon: a Talonflame and Gigalith.

"Flareblitz on the Torterra! Power Gem on the Dragonite!"

"Fault Line: track 3!" The command resulted in two attacks. The first was a Stone Edge being used to create three walls extending from the center of the plaza that shielded Jazz's Pokémon. The second was an Earthquake opening up a triangle shaped pit the points of which were at the ends of the walls. The Gigalith fell into the pit causing the Power Gem to go wide. The Talonflame crashed into wall going at full speed. While the rock's shattered from the force the bird was still KO'd. Icona then flew over the wall with a Focus Punch ready. By the time Gigalith had climbed out of the hole, Icona had already flown into its face and proceeded to end the battle.

"Hell yeah!" Jazz threw her fist into the air. Icona and Jimi made their way over to their trainer. Jimi had to use Stone Edge to create a new way over the pit. A few of the spectators ran over to congratulate her. Her opponent joined her as well.

"You got us big time." He admitted and extended his hand. Jazz returned with a warm shake. "How did make this hole with an Earthquake?" The crowd began to wonder out loud.

"Now why would I just divulge my secrets to anyone?" A smirk was on her lips. Her hands were occupied petting Jimi's head and scratching Icona's snout.

"Because you promised that you would cut down on the trash talk, insults, and general not being nice," said a female voice. It lacked a distinct source seeming to originate from the minds of those who could hear it.

"Also, it's not like you used rocket science to pull this off." This voice had clear source: Beat. The Lucario's gestures towards the battle field confirmed the crowd's suspicions and left the opposing trainer with even more questions. Contrary to popular myth, Pokémon using telepathy to communicate with humans isn't particularly rare. With a bit of practice, any Pokémon with Psychic or aura based abilities can learn how. "Telepathy, _no one's_ ever seen it before."

"Beat…" Rhythm said like a mother chastising her child.

"Rhythm!" Beat replied like daughter going her teenage years, hands on hips and all.

"Jay-yazz!" Their trainer joined in jazz hands waving.

"Look if you don't wanna tell me, that's cool…" The trainer was starting to back away with the thinning crowd.

"Oh stay your ass put. I was just screwin' with ya." Jazz's attention was on recalling Jimi and Icona. A smile was still on her face.

"Well if that's the case, then maybe I can take crack at figuring out your secrets?" An older voice belonging to man in his sixties approached. Rhythm's eyes lit up at sight of him with his thermos filled with coffee as she was his self-proclaimed biggest fan. Jazz didn't even turn around. "During the first round your 'Dig: track 3' command was for a specific pattern that all of your Pokémon have memorized. The Earthquake upset the ground creating that pit. The stone walls were created by tracing Stone Edge on the inner parts of the hole. Also Darude isn't a Dragonite at all. He's a Zoroark. That's why he can use Sucker Punch."

Jazz looked at the old man and recognized him on sight. There stood _the_ Professor Samuel Oak with a warm smile on his face. Jazz's reason for knowing, however, was less from him being a famed researcher but, rather videos of his battles from his youth when he was the Kanto region's champion. "Guilty as charged."

Darude popped out his Pokéball disguised as the Darmantan. He then put the massive hand of the Fire type over his face and pulled in a dramatic fashion as though he were tossing away a mask. Now he appeared to be the trainer they had beaten. He removed a final mask to reveal his true appearance and proceeded to snuggle up to his trainer. "Alright boy, chill out." Jazz chuckled and petted Darude's head before recalling him to his Pokéball. "Professor Oak, right?"

"Guilty as charged." He said with his smile. As he held out his hand Rhythm finally lost the ability to contain her excitement.

"I am your biggest fan!" She said giddily. "I've read all your books and every article and research paper you've ever published. I've watched every interview you've given and listen to your podcast every week. Your birthday is June twenty-ninth. I'm _sure_ you get this a lot but, you were the one who convinced me to learn telepathy. Please, please, _please_ can I have your autograph please?"

"Well, I uh…" Oak nervously held up his hand.

"Imagine that for two weeks and you've got our lives when she learned telepathy. Thanks." Beat said.

"This man is genius!" Rhythm shouted in the minds of all present.

"And you're a spaz." Rhythm's white face turned pink. "Please notice that neither has been denied."

"Ten years, every day I've had to listen these two idiots." Jazz said. She then snatched one of her Pokémon into each arm. "But love 'em anyway. Oh, by the way, I've got a package for you from Professor Rowan."

"So must you be Jazz." Oak said. "If you don't mind, I'd rather we discuss the package in my lab. I was running a bit late already you see and, I have an important guest who's supposed arriving soon. Would you care to join us um…?"

Oak turned to the trainer Jazz had defeated only to find he had sulked away.

-#-

"So you intend to compete in the Indigo Plateau Conference?" Professor Oak asked as they walked up the hill to his lab.

"That's the plan. It'll be my first go 'round, though. Most people try sooner but, I figured I might as well wait. No one under fourteen has ever won and the mean is seventeen." Jazz explained. "In the meantime, we've just been travelin' the world, trainin', and havin' battles against strong opponents."

"Well, if that performance earlier was anything to go by, it's certainly paid off." Oak commented. "Ah, here we are. Welcome to my pride and joy: the Oak Research Laboratory." Standing outside the lab were Oak's employees: a middle-aged man who was his full time aid, and his two interns, a man and a woman in their early twenties. "Sorry I'm late. I got a bit sidetracked on the way here."

He pulled out his keys and unlocked door resulting in the alarm going off. He quickly disarmed it and allowed everyone inside. "It's no problem." His aid assured. "Is she the one who'll be collecting the hard drives? She's certainly not here for a starter Pokémon." He said looking at Rhythm and Beat.

"Ha! If you let her near anything more complicated than the web browser, you can kiss your computer good bye." Beat said.

"Anyway, you three get started the usual routine. Jazz, please come with me to my office. Oh, and if you see our other guest please send her back there as well." Jazz, Rhythm, and Beat followed the Professor through his lab. Rhythm drank up every inch of the building. She took a mental note of everything from the machines to small Pokémon that walked freely around the facility. Jazz and Beat, however, were far more interested in the fields behind the building. In them dwelled Pokémon from all around world including quite of a few neither of them had seen before.

Oak's office was everything Jazz would have expect. A large oak desk sat in middle with a computer and paperwork placed atop. Bookshelves lined either side of the room and on the back wall hung various awards and plaques for his research. "Go on, take a seat." He motioned to the chairs as he set down his coffee.

The three complied and Jazz began digging around her bag. "Let's see. Should be right…there we go." In her left hand was Pokéball with a golden top half rather than the usual red. On it "GS" was inscribed. "One average Joe's yearly salary, hand delivered."

She set on the GS ball on Oak's desk with confident smile. Oak, however, had a stern almost grave look on his face. "Jazz, I can't go into details with you but, I can assure you that this Pokéball is worth far more than the annual net profits of Silph Co. and the Devon Corporation combined. You have my utmost gratitude for delivering it safely."

All this did was pique Jazz's curiosity, something which Rhythm mentally warned her not to act on. "It's whatever. I'd be passin' through anyways. 'Sides, I owed Rowan a favor. And he set me up first-class on the boat ride from Sinnoh. The food was _orgasmic._ " Jazz's facial expression, tongue out and droopy eyed, aided the drawn out way in which she described the food. Rhythm buried her face in her hands in embarrassment. Beat leaned forward and rested her head in her paw resisting the urge make another comment.

"Oh…well…um…" Oak stammered as he put the GS ball in his desk drawer.

"So is that all or, ya got something else for me? Im'ma be in town 'til tomorrow morning."

Back to his senses, Oak folded his hands together and rested his face on them. "What exactly are your plans for collecting the gym badges?"

As Oak took another swill of his coffee Jazz pulled out a protean bar. "You mind?" Oak signaled his approval with a tip of his thermos. "Well, I'm gonna try to collect all sixteen badges from Kanto and Johto, seeing as the tournaments merged five years ago. I won't have much time for sightseeing but, that's the price you pay. Why?"

Oak nodded in acknowledgement and set his coffee down. "Let's start at the beginning. Ten years ago I had the current regional champion my grandson, Blue, the current world champion, Red, and another trainer from Pallet Town, Green, do me a favor. The three of them set up equipment monitoring Pokémon populations across the Kanto and Johto regions. Starting tomorrow, an assistant of Unova Professor Juniper will be retrieving the hard drives with the data on them.

"My concern is that recently there has been a resurgence of a criminal organization called Team Rocket who I have reason to suspect might be after that data as well. They're the reason Professor Rowan gave you the GS ball to deliver by hand. That and the blasted thing can't be transmitted. Now the person gathering the hard drives is a fairly skilled trainer in her own right but, as they say: there's safety in numbers. Not to mention Professor Rowan seems to believe you have great potential. I would be deeply appreciative if the two of you were to travel together just to give me greater peace of mind."

Jazz had finished the last bit of her protein bar as Oak finished his request. With her arms folded and head tilted down and to the left, she began to mull over the idea. "I dunno. This is kinda short notice. I mean, maybe if I knew this assistant a bit better..."

Before Jazz could finish her sentence, the door to Oak's office was flung open. "Sorry I'm late, Professor Oak!" Jazz and her Pokémon turned around to the door saw the assistant in her somewhat flustered state. "Bianca Genovese reporting for duty!" she said with a salute, the jerky movement shaking her glasses and beret off balance. At that moment, she noticed the tension in room. "Did I interrupt something?" She asked as she reoriented her head wear and specs.

"No. Well, yes, but we _were_ talking about you. It's good to see you again, Bianca" Oak's smile returned though Jazz could tell it was for the sake of formality. "Bianca, this is Jazz. Jazz, Bianca. I was just suggesting that the two of you travel together since she intends to enter the League tournament this year."

"That's fine with me. The more the merrier." Bianca said in a chipper tone.

"Hey, I haven't agreed to shit to yet."

"Language!" Rhythm scolded.

"But, _Mom_ …" Jazz whined.

"In a just world, I'd be the trainer." Beat said watching the two bicker.

"So, who wants a tour of the lab?" Oak said.

-#-

After a tour of the building, the Professor had taken his guests out to his vast fields. In them dwelled Pokémon from various regions most caught by trainers who started their journeys in Pallet Town. Also in them were wild Pokémon from the area.

" _Alright you two_." Jazz said mentally. " _Should probably give an answer before we leave. Pros and cons._ "

" _Pro: aiding a renowned scientist will get you support from the general public._ " Rhythm immediately fired.

" _Con: you could be giving a large criminal organization a reason to come after you_." Beat warned.

" _Pro: Professor Oak could give you access to some of his resources as thanks_."

" _Con: the potential publicity could result in someone asking why your public records are so hard to find_."

" _Pro: the criminal organization could make for good practice in between gym battles_."

" _Con: they have no reason to stop after KO'ing us_."

Rhythm paused for moment realizing she had nothing to counter that point. She looked around frantically trying to come up with something that could potentially tip Jazz's risk/reward scale in her favor. Then she realized the answer was right of her merrily conversing with Professor Oak. " _Pro: Bianca has a big butt._ "

" _Con: that will distract from your goal_!" Jazz was proving their presumptions right, eyes now deadlocked on Bianca's rear end as it moved with her gait. "Oh my God. Are you fucking kidding me?"

"No, I'm not." Oak said. "Most people don't believe me but, on the day Red, Blue and Green set off to become Pokémon trainers, I saw Ho-oh fly over Pallet Town and Route 1."

"That's not what I…screw it!" Beat flung her arms up in defeat. " _What is with you humans and your obsession with each other's asses_?"

Their tour continued and after a short while the debate as to whether or not they should travel with Bianca rekindled. In the end, the two Pokémon reached a stalemate with both admitting that the other had valid points. Jazz expected this much. She'd been their trainer for ten years and had heard them debate over trivial and serious matters. Really her goal in asking their opinion had been to have both sides of the argument laid out in front of her. It was par for the course in their adventures. At the end of the day it was her call, though.

"Jazz, everything alright?" Bianca asked as the tour came to end. "You've been pretty quiet back there."

"Huh?" Jazz jolted as she snapped out of her thoughts. "Nah, I'm fine. This science stuff just ain't my cup o' tea is all."

"Well, anyhow, that concludes the tour of Oak Laboratory. Do any of you have questions?" Oak said as they approached the building. Before Rhythm or Bianca could raise their hands, the ground bulged beneath Oak's feet. Just as the professor stepped back a Drilbur burst out of the ground. "Now how many times have I told you not to dig near the building?"

The Drilbur responded by rapid firing a series of grunts and arm movements that immediately had Rhythm and Beat's attention. "Translation, please." Their trainer said.

"Someone's using a Steelix to dig…" Before Beat could finish the steel snake erupted out of the ground knocking over all present. "I think you can fill in the blanks."

"I said we've been compromised. Evacuate the vicinity at once and meet at the emergency rendezvous. We will attempt a forced acquisition then meet you there." The voice had come from behind the Steelix. Two people each in gray outfits with a capital R on the tops stood next to the Pokémon. "Let's make this quick. I'm Hun and this is Attila. Hand over the GS ball and you all walk away in one piece." The person with long grey hair spoke.

Oak stood up fury in his eyes over the situation. His aids immediately rushed over to the commotion but, found themselves facing four Rocket grunts that began climbing out of the hole made by Hun's Steelix. Bianca released her Emboar, Barb. The Rockets' response was to begin releasing their Pokémon, an assortment of Zubat, Growlithe, Koffing, and Rattata.

In the midst of all this Jazz spoke up. "Quick question: are you a guy or a girl?" Jaws dropped on both sides of the confrontation. All eyes were on Jazz and, Hun's eyes in particular were attempting to shoot lasers through her skull. Rhythm face palmed and Beat rolled her eyes. "What? I wanna make sure I use the right insults."

"Don't worry! You won't live long enough for it to be an issue! Bleda! It's Crunch time!" The Steelix let loose a roar and lunged forward with it iron maw wide open. Unlike the Rockets and the researchers, Jazz and her Pokémon didn't flinch when Bleda moved. Then Hun realized the blunder. "No! Stop!" By the time the command reached the Steelix, he had crashed into the Protect Rhythm had set up. He reeled from the impact and quickly regained his senses only to have them knocked right back out by a Focus Punch from Beat.

"Don't just stand there!" Hun shouted at her underlings. "Attack!"

"Rhythm! Safeguard!" The white light from Safeguard covered the humans and their Pokémon protecting from a wave of poisonous gas from Koffing. "Beat, focus on the one in charge! Bianca, make sure none of the grunts get inside the lab! Rhythm, long range support and prep for Meteorblast!"

Keeping track of the entirety of the melee was hopeless effort. Beat was keeping the Steelix occupied and Bianca had released her Emboar named Barb who was now handling the majority of the grunts Pokémon. The rest were struck long-range attacks from Rhythm.

" _Meteorblast in 30!_ " Rhythm broadcasted to her allies.

Hun watched with gritted as Bleda was knocked around by Beat. The tap on the shoulder was met with a swift turn and a snarl. Jazz's fist was swung across Hun's jaw. Before Attila turned to punch Jazz, Hun had been grabbed by the arm and swung into Attila's path. Attila backed up as Hun fell to the ground and when he did, Jazz slashed him across the chest with a foot long curved knife.

" _10 seconds!_ "

While Attila clutched his bloody wound Jazz ran across the field. "Bianca, withdraw your Emboar!" Bianca looked at Jazz like she had lost her mind. "Just trust me on this!" Against Bianca's better judgment Barb was returned to her Pokéball. She looked up and saw something she hadn't expected to see from Jazz. It was a technique employed typically by Psychic specialists with decent frequency. With practice it was possible for Psychic type Pokémon to send a specific attack ahead using Future Sight in this case the Fairy type move, Moonblast. Beat leaped up to the attack and set her leg on fire. Delivering the Blaze Kick had an interesting effect on the Moonblast. The wispy energy that surrounded the attack now resembled flames taking on pink and purple hue. The core of the attack, however, turned black as though it had been scorched upon entering the planet's atmosphere. "Get wrecked!" Jazz's middle finger was raised.

"Shit..." was all Hun could say when Meteorblast hit right in front Bleda. First came the light. The single flash was enough to force anyone with eyes shut them and leave spots after it faded. Next was the shockwave. If your feet were not planted firmly, you could expect to be knocked right off of them. The glass in the back windows of the Oak research lab shattered. This was accompanied by a deafening boom. That's when the heat would be noticed. The ground around the impact sight was scorched and the surrounding grasses were burned to black crisps. Finally small chunks of the fairy flamed meteor fell in the surround area somehow not igniting the grass.

The silence, a combination of temporary hearing loss and utter shock from all but Jazz and Professor Oak, was accompanied by dust impaired vision. The only concrete details that could be made out were the red lights of Pokémon being recalled. The light from the Meteorblast pieces began to fade as the dust settled. Attila and Hun were already fleeing on a Mandibuzz. The remaining grunts attempted to escape on foot but, were intercepted by the police who had been responding the commotion.

-#-

When all was said and done, four Rockets were in police custody and their Pokémon handed over to Professor Oak. Their leaders had escaped, however. After a series of questions being asked and photos of the scene being taken, the police gave Jazz a stern warning not to use Meteorblast in areas populated by people or Pokémon unless absolutely necessary then left.

"Barely in this region a few hours and, I already got the cops on my case." Jazz, Oak, and Bianca were now back in Oak's office. The professor was rubbing his temples and looked exhausted. "Uh, sorry 'bout the windows."

"Don't worry about that." He leaned back in his chair and rested his hands in lap letting out a sigh. "What's important is that everyone's safe. Though, I would heed the police's word about Meteorblast." Jazz, Rhythm, and Beat all dawned the same prideful grin as Oak cracked open the draw of his desk to assure himself that the GS ball was safe for now. "Now, I must ask you again. Having experienced the risks first hand would you consider traveling with Bianca?"

Jazz reassumed the pose she took when first the question. She went over the debate between Rhythm and Beat again. Also going through her head was battle she'd just been in. Particularly she noted how obvious it was that only Bleda and the Skarmory had any real training. Finally, she stood up, looked Bianca in the eyes, was momentarily distracted by how pretty her eyes were, and said, "Sounds fun to me. Meet us at the northern gate tomorrow morning at six o'clock sharp."

Before Jazz could turn on her heel and make her exit, Bianca had scooped her into a hug. "Oh, it'll be so much fun! We can tell stories and compete in tag battles together and talk about Pokémon and boys and we can…"

Bianca's prattling went on for a moment but, as Rhythm and Beat could attest to, only one thing went through Jazz's mind, " _Titties…_ "

-#-

It was five past six and, Jazz, Rhythm, and Beat had begun their trip on Route 1 to Viridian City five minutes earlier. Bianca was running behind them at top speed. When she finally caught up, she was out of breath. "I said six o'clock sharp."

"I didn't…" Bianca stopped to take a breath. "…think you'd leave…" Another wheeze. "…without me."

"Well ya thought wrong, obviously." Jazz hadn't stopped walking with plans to reach Viridian by noon the next day driving her legs forward. "I got sixteen badges to collect. I can only afford so many detours."

Bianca sighed then sucked up the air in front of her and continued forward. "Right. This is where our great adventure across Kanto and Johto begins!"

A smile followed by a laugh came from Jazz's face and, her arms stretched out wide. "Damn straight! Indigo Plateau, here I come!" Jazz's hearty shout echoed throughout the morning sky signaling the start of a journey.

 **Please review if you have time**


	2. You Gotta Face Up

Updated 4/18/2016

 **Chapter 2**

 **You Gotta Face Up**

Three hours of walking and Pallet was no longer in sight, even with the relatively flat landscape. The main road of Route 1 was a dirt path lined with trees and small Pokémon scampering about among the grass and foliage. Jazz, Rhythm, Beat, and Bianca trekked through the area in peace with very little being said. "So where are you from?" Bianca finally asked.

"Hm?" Jazz's initial response was to move her hand to back of her neck. For a moment she simply continued walking with her eyes pointing at the sky. Eventually she spat out, "I'm from the Orre region. Place called Pyrite Town to be specific."

"Orre isn't that far from Unova." Bianca jogged slightly ahead and spun to face Jazz now walking backwards. "My dad made me swear to never set foot in the place. But he's way over protective. Those stories are just exaggerations. Right?"

"The legends 'bout giant Trapinch that eat entire trucks: complete Tauros-shit. The sky high crime rate, corrupt government, and ineffective cops: the news pretties that stuff up. Take all that into account and keep in mind that Pyrite is even shittier than most of the region and you can figure my childhood was int'resting, to say the least." Jazz held a straight face through the entire statement. Bianca stopped in her tracks and followed with her eyes. "It wasn't all bad though."

"Yeah, we're talking a town that treated vandalizing the news station as a sport, trafficked drugs like candy, and considered a murder as standard fair for Tuesday. Great place to raise a kid." Beat then looked at her trainer. "Don't sugar coat it. We all know the best thing between you and that town was you leaving." Finally she turned to Bianca. "You coming?"

Bianca snapped out of her trance and caught back up her group. "So what about you, Bianca? What's your home like?" Rhythm asked.

"Oh, Nuvema Town? It's a lot like Pallet Town actually. Pretty, small, and has a harbor. Heck, it's even where Professor Juniper's lab is." Bianca paused for a moment. "You know, it's almost like they were designed for the exact same thing."

"Same city planner, maybe?" Jazz suggested.

"I don't think those existed when Pallet Town was founded." Rhythm said.

"You know when Pallet Town founded?" Jazz asked.

"Of course! Professor Oak mentioned it in his second podcast of April last year."

"Y'know, I'm honestly surprised you haven't made some kind of portable shrine to the guy." Beat said with a grin.

Rhythm pointed her nose into the air. "Only because one of you is bound to destroy it trying out some new attack or something."

"Least the fireworks'll look awesome." Jazz said.

"Why would there be fireworks in a shrine?" Bianca asked.

"See, in the Kanto region big festivals are s'pposed to have fireworks so why shouldn't a big time scientist?" Jazz explained. "'Sides, Oak seemed like he threw one hell of a party back the day."

"Oh, maybe she can throw in some whiskey while she's at it." Beat added.

"I pegged 'im more as a beer kinda guy." Jazz noted. "Sam Oak's Craft Beer: has a nice ring to it."

"Actually, I think he prefers rum." Bianca corrected. "It's what he drinks whenever I see him at conferences."

"Stop putting alcohol my shrine!" Rhythm's shout was accompanied by a reddened face.

The day continued like this for another hour with the group having conversations about various random topics that sprang up but nothing of significance. Finally a trainer stopped them. He wasted no time introducing himself and announcing that he was from Pallet Town. A Squirtle who was more than eager to battle stood proudly by his side. Jazz and Bianca shared a glance that confirmed that they shared a thought: rookie.

 **-#-**

Elsewhere on Route 1, in a clearing among trees next a cliff, one of Team Rocket's field units had set up its mobile command station. One of the two unit commanders, a woman with long crimson hair, pale skin, and a pronounced nose, sat at the folding table scratching her Houndoom, Hades, behind the horns. Her eyes were occupied scanning over the map of Route 1 she had laid out in front her though they occasionally moved to her mostly silent radio that was doubling as a paperweight. Her other hand was rubbing her forehead. Her darted to the tree line as an explosion rang from the main road.

The unit commander's name was Billie and, she hated her current assignment. The goal as explained by her admin was to obtain a set of hard drives that had been gathering data on Pokémon populations. Said admin had failed to explain to her why Team Rocket was interested in the data saying that she would know when the time came. On top disliking the vague goals, she also felt that she was short on time and manpower for this operation. She had one day to scour all of Route 1 for an object the size of a car battery with only about thirty grunts. Route 1 was not particularly large by any means but, the one day time limit still meant they were rushing to comb through the area.

The sound of boots on grass snapped Billie out of her thoughts. "Squad four, reporting in." The squad leader said as he approached the table. "Our search in areas C-1 to C-9 came up empty."

Billie suppressed a frustrated sigh and said, "Understood, Raoul." She marked the area with a highlighter. "Your squad will take a thirty minute break then head out to search areas F-1 to F-9."

"Yes, ma'am"

The squad leader and the five under him walked to the large tent where water and food awaited them. Emerging from the tent was the other field commander, average height with spiked, black hair. "Thirty minute break? Do you always have to be such a fucking softy? I swear I oughta..." He nearly continued but, Hades' snarling shut him up. Much like Billie, Hades hated Kidd. Unlike Billie, Hades was very vocal about it. Kidd sat in the chair across from Billie who had already had enough of him today.

"If you control through fear those with courage will stab you in your sleep but, if you control through respect they will follow your orders even on your death bed." Billie said plainly.

"Right." Kidd dragged the word and rolled his eyes. "Anyway, big info from on high. Attila and Hun got their asses handed to them trying to rob Professor Oak's lab. Apparently their little tunnel plan went belly up then some black chick with a high powered Lucario and Gardevoir sent 'em packing."

"I told Hun to master Mega Evolution." Billie eyed the Keystone that was set in her glove.

"Hey speaking of Hun, is that a guy or girl. I mean, I'd hit that either way; I just wanna know what equipment I'm working with." Billie lowered her eyes. "Anyway we got word that the trainer's supposed to be coming through Route 1 today. I say we nab her and give those top notch Pokémon to higher ups."

Billie grabbed the radio and pressed the talk button. "This is your unit commander A. There is female trainer in possession a well-trained Lucario and Gardevoir on the Route. Do not engage. I repeat. Do not engage. All squads copy."

Kidd looked at Billie eyes wide and teeth gritted as each squad copied. "Whad'ya mean don't engage!? This could be a big catch! She probably has plenty more Pokémon where those two came from, too! Are you telling me we should just pass up a haul like this!?"

Kidd was now on his feet; the chair had been knocked over when he stood. He ignored the two members of squad four who were peering out the tent and focused all his anger on his co-commander. In response Billie calmly stood up as well. She tilted her head down to look at Kidd with her eyebrows just a bit closer than they had been before.

"To answer your question I'll ask a few of my own. Do you remember what we were sent here to do?" Kidd's lips had closed. He nodded. "Do you have any intel suggesting that attacking this trainer would aid in this mission? Do you know if you could defeat her even with the aid of the grunts? Considering our tight schedule, do think we could even afford to spare any of the grunts on this little side trip of yours?" Knuckles white, Kidd turned his head away. "Get it now? We find the hard drive we go home. No more, no less."

Billie sat back down and returned to her map. Kidd huffed and kicked the fallen chair out his way. When he stomped into the tent, squad four awkwardly went about their business drinking water and eating sandwiches. "God dammit! Why don't they just give her an admin spot already so, I don't have to put up with her shit!? Come on, Raoul! I know you feel me!" Raoul looked down at his sandwich prompting Kidd wrap his arm around his shoulder. "Don't be like that. Everyone knows that the commander spot is waiting for you as soon the bitch is out of the way. 'Sides, I like your face."

Raoul shoved Kidd off when his face got a little too close. Kidd just stood back up and shrugged. "Alright you six. Let's ditch this place. We're going after some kid with grade A Pokémon. Easy brownie points with the higher ups."

Squad four all shared glances before looking at Raoul. "We already have our orders, sir."

Kidd's shoulders slumped. "Fine. If you want somethin' done, you gotta do it yourself."

 **-#-**

"You could've gone easy him." Bianca watched as Jazz let her other four Pokémon out. They'd come to a sizable field with a creek running next to the road.

"Yeah but, what good would that'a done the kid." Bianca tilted her head. "What? Ya think we haven't had our asses handed us before? I've been a trainer for years, Bianca. Course I lost plenty of times in that. If you give up after one beat down from someone with that much more experience, you're not gonna last too long. Win or lose, ya only get better if ya learn what works and what don't. Oh, of course don't forget the part where ya train your ass off. Speakin' of which, now's the time for you to get that hard drive."

"Yeah, I see what you're saying." Bianca admitted. She released Barb and made her way into the wooded area. Barb's flames weren't active to prevent a fire. "So what do you think of Jazz?" Barb's response consisted of series of grunts and arm motions. "Yeah it just felt like she didn't want to talk about the past. I mean sure she mentioned her home town but not what her parents are like. Or really anything that happened before yesterday. Oh well. I'm sure she just has to warm up to us."

They continued walking through the forest with Bianca occasionally checking her map to make sure they were on track. Bianca took in the sight of a new region letting her thoughts go back in time to her first journey through the Unova region when Barb was Tepig trotting along at her feet. She recalled her attempt to collect the eight badges which she gave up on before deciding to become a Pokémon researcher. With those memories came the battles with Team Plasma and the mysterious N. Most importantly, however, were the strengthening of her friendship with the now gym leader Cheren and still MIA White. White had gone looking for N after Team Plasma's first defeat and still hadn't returned. No one, not even her mom, knew where she'd gone. Ironically if Nate was to be believed, N had returned to Unova.

Even without her old friend by her side, Bianca was still sure White was out there and happily waited for the day their trio would be united again. Presently, however, her mind was occupied by the single Pidgey that flitting among the trees. The bird looked down at Bianca intently before flitting down to her out stretched hand. "Hi there little guy." Barb grunted. "Sorry, girl."

The Pidgey tilted her head in curiosity before flying over to Barb's head and making herself comfortable in the Emboar's natural warmth. Barb gave a slightly frustrated groan before following Bianca through woods. She too recalled the time when their journey began. Bianca had been a spacey and naive girl and still was the former but to a significantly lesser degree. Her experiences with Team Plasma had knocked the latter right out of her though. Barb's recollection of Bianca's decision to cease collecting the gym badges made her realize how easily she should have seen it coming. Between having a hard time adapting in battles to her often poor handling of situations with Plasma, anyone could see she just wasn't cut out to be a great trainer. However, the way her face lit up when the Junipers talked about their research and the observations she put forth made it clear where her talents lie.

Now here they were, walking through the foliage of an entirely different region with goals in mind that hopefully wouldn't involve terrorists.

 **-#-**

Back at the creek, Rhythm, Beat, Tiësto, and Darude had split off into pairs for sparing with Jazz ordering them to switch opponents periodically. Icona and Jimi on the other hand were receiving individual training. Icona was attempting to combine Dragon Rush with Extreme Speed and, splintered trees near the edge of the clearing proved that she was making headway. Jimi on the other hand was working on a variation of Razor Leaf with limited success.

"C'mon, Jimi! You got the hard part down. Now it's just about timing." Jazz said from her spot directly in front of the Torterra which was surrounded by leaves big and small. Jimi planted his feet sent out the first volley and immediately a second. As the leaves approached her, Jazz's face stretched into a smile. The first set was tiny compared to the second one but, from her perspective they were the same size. It looked like she could dodge to the left or right but, in reality she safest standing still. A cut on her face proved that it wasn't totally safe, though. "Alright! Perfect! Let's see if we can a streak going! Oh! And you guys switch! Rhythm v Darude and Tiësto v Beat!"

Unfortunately, it would take a few more attempts before Jimi's next success but, Jazz's primary focus was that he had improved from the day before. Icona on the other hand, was currently tearing apart the unlucky trees. Her new technique was much more straight forward than Jimi's and Jazz had thought of it sooner. The biggest problem was that the best ones seemed to leave Icona sore. She did her best to hide that fact from her trainer but, Jazz noticed.

"Oh goddamn! I really hit the jackpot today!" Activity ceased as the trainer and her team looked to sky. On the back of a Braviary, Kidd eyed the six Pokémon he intended to steal. The teeth showing grin on his face vanished when a Thunderbolt struck his Braviary and by extension him. When he and his bird fell from the sky, Kidd was knocked off by the impact and skidded on his back. Braviary's attempt to get back up was halted by another Thunderbolt knocking the bird unconscious. "You fucking cunt!"

Jazz wasted no time planting her boot onto Kidd's chest. "God and Arceus, you are stupid." She stomped on him when he attempted to reach for his Pokéballs. His face contorted and flushed at the pain of one of his ribs cracking. Beat took the radio and remaining five Pokéballs from his belt. Jazz examined them quickly before taking the Braviary's and recalling it. She then handed them to Rhythm.

"You listen better up." Kidd growled. "I've got guys thirty guys crawling in this entire route. The second they realize their leader's gone missing, they're gonna be on your ass faster than you can blink. Let me go and I might consider leaving you alone for the rest of the day."

Jazz nodded to Beat who climbed up a tree and began scanning the route. Kidd's radio then came to life. "Unit commander A to unit commander B. Do you copy?" Billie's voice was clearly agitated. "I repeat. Unit commander B. Do you copy?" Silence. "Unit commander A to all squads. Can anyone tell me where unit commander B is?" Five negatives came back. "Unit commander A to unit commander B. If you have gone after the girl and find yourself in over your head, do not expect me or anyone else to come save you. All squads, a reminder to not engage the trainer. All squads copy." Five copies came through.

"Ooh…tough luck." Kidd attempted to throw Jazz off but, she simply dug her boot deeper breaking his rib. "Yeah I can see that unit commander A is the brains behind this little operation."

" _Listen up._ " Beat had come back over and mentally told Jazz her findings. " _Thirty humans in five groups of six. Looks like they've been combing the route looking something. One of them is on a path direct to run into Bianca._ "

"I see." Jazz looked at the radio then her captive. "Rhythm, Hypnosis." Kidd struggled for half of a second before the pain in ribs stopped him. One Hypnosis later and he was out like a light.

"Okay, now what?" Rhythm asked.

Jazz's face twisted into caricature of itself. A smile that stretched from ear to ear revealed her teeth and gums and folded the skin of her cheeks. Her nostrils were flared open and her eyes were squinted upwards. She put her finger to her mouth, took a deep breath, and began shushing. She turned her head slowly so that each of her Pokémon could get a glimpse of her contortion. When she finally stopped, Jazz and Beat's faces were mere breaths from each other. Then through her teeth Jazz said, "We're gowing Wocket hunting."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

 **-#-**

Billie's face was in its usual, neutral position: lips straight, eyelids slightly lowered. Her hands were folded so that her chin could rest on top of them and her eyes were focused on the map. Underneath that face, however, was the burning of anger. She had been working with Kidd for a very short period of time but, all she could of think when it came to him were ways she could get him arrested or killed.

She let out a sigh and released a Charizard and Trevenant. "You two need to find the Fool. Don't draw attention to yourselves. If he's engaged in a fight with a teenage girl with a Lucario and a Gardevoir, report back immediately. Otherwise bring him back kicking and screaming if you have to."

Her Pokémon nodded in understanding and left. The Charizard, Apollo, took to the skies while the Trevenant, Persephone, ran into the forest.

"This could be a real problem." She muttered as her hand scratched Hades.

 **-#-**

Squad four walked through Route 1 as their tedious task continued. Raoul wasn't looking for the hard drive too hard at the moment though. His eyes were fixated on his radio. "What a fucking idiot," he said to no one.

He swiveled his head to the rest of his squad all of whom were searching for the hard drive with vested interest in getting Kidd left behind. Raoul knew that wouldn't happen. Kidd had knowledge on Team Rocket's various hideouts and other information that Billie wouldn't risk falling into police hands. Then again, Billie obviously hated Kidd.

"This is such bunkum." Logainne said as she scanned the tree tops.

"Y'know just because you _can_ say 'Tauros-shit' in twenty different ways, doesn't mean you _should_." Raoul clipped the radio to his belt as he said that. "These four probably can't understand half your sentences without a thesaurus."

"Yeah, unlike you, our parents didn't expect us to be somethin'." Tony hopped down from the tree he was in. "I mean for us, it was about a dreamin' of the glitz 'n' glam but, never quite reachin' it. Ain't that right, Jonny?"

Jonny looked up from his crouched position and dusted off the letterman he had over his uniform, "Yes sir. If there's anything I've learned about life it's sometimes you've just gotta say goodbye to love and dreams even if they're all you've got."

"And then there's me who got ditched when she was barely old enough to remember her folks' faces." Sally said with a grin and shrug.

"What? Still mad that they took your growth spurts with 'em when they left?" Mark rested his elbow Sally's head earning a groan from her and continued with, "Yes, we know all of us had shitty lives beforehand but, the longer we hang around on Route 1 the worse it'll get. So let's find this damn hard drive and get out of here."

"The failed Spielberg wanna be has point." Tony said as he passed Mark and Sally. "And besides that, if we get out of here fast enough, I might be to surprise Maria with a long, long night. Course little ole Logainne here wouldn't know what I'm talkin' about now would…" Tony looked around for moment only to realize Logainne was gone. "Come out, Logainne! Seriously, we were just messin' with ya. You know we didn't mean it!"

They stopped at that moment and felt something. It was tingle, just enough to make their stand on end. They all looked around each reaching for their Pokéballs when they heard a thud. After a moment's hesitation, they turned to see Logainne on the ground, in her underwear and unconscious. Her hands and feet were zip tied, and her mouth was gagged with a black cloth.

For an instant a black and blue blur dashed across Raoul's field of vision and, when it did Tony vanished. The radio was in his hand and thumb on the call button. "This is squad four! We are under attack! I repeat! We are under attack!" When the reply of static came, Tony, bound and gagged, was thrown into Jonny who was quickly wrapped in a dark green tail and pulled away with a scream. "Where are our Pokémon!?"

"I don' know! The Pokéballs are actin' up. What's the green light mean!?" Sally shouted as continually pressed the release button. Raoul's eyes narrowed when remembered that the green light meant an electromagnetic interference was preventing the Pokéball from operating properly. When Jonny was dropped in front her, Sally turned away and, a pair of glowing eyes rendered her unconscious. An invisible force pulled her into the bushes cutting squad four down to two.

Mark and Raoul pressed their backs together with their Pokéballs in hand. "Oh, shit. Oh shit. Oh shit." Mark kept saying as panic began to set in. His eyes frantically scanned the area hoping for a way to counter whoever was attacking them. "How the hell are you so calm?"

"Someone has to be." Raoul said drawing a knife from his pocket.

"Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!" A rapid firing female voice echoed in their heads before a pair of boots landed on Raoul's face. Jazz flipped off the Rocket and onto her feet before picking up the dropped knife. She folded it ad placed it into her own pocket before looking at the last Rocket standing.

Mark dropped his Pokéball and put his hands in the air. "I surrender."

 **-#-**

"Squad four do you copy?" Billie said into the radio only to get no reply. "Lovely, the only competent people around here…" She said through gritted teeth. Fortunately she knew exactly who to blame for this going from an annoying mission to a potentially lethal one. "Unit commander A to all squads: be prepared for an attack. We have an unknown assailant, most likely an experienced trainer. Retreat if possible. I repeat. Retreat if possible. Also add the members of squad four to your search."

A mighty roar followed Billie's orders. She looked up and saw Apollo returning. In his claws was Kidd, sans pants, zip tied, and asleep. Apollo landed and dropped the man onto the table snoring away. Persephone walked out the wooded area shortly after. "Good work you two. It's nice to know I can at least rely on somebody around here. So do I yell at him now or later?" Apollo growled and, Hades and Persephone nodded in agreement. "Tempting but, he'd probably like it."

Kidd started to stir at this point and woke up shortly after. "Aw, you did come to rescue me." He said groggily.

"Hardly. I need to mitigate the damage you've caused and try to salvage this mission. Having you out there doing God knows what only increases the chance of things getting worse." The venom in her voice was almost palpable. "And no, I will not untie you. Throw him the tent."

"What!? This is Tauros-shit!" Persephone picked him up and carried him into the tent. "Wait until the higher ups hear about this! Your ass is grass! You hear me!?" His shouting continued for a while and he was audibly banging into things.

When he finally quieted down the radio came to life but, only static. "Could not get a copy on that. Please repeat." The radio was quiet for a moment. "This is unit commander A, all squads report." Squads one, two, and five copied.

This process repeated itself three times over the course of an hour and a half. Static would come in through the radio. Billie would try to find out who was being attacked but, get no response. Then contact will have been lost from one squad. It was clear the mission was a failure.

As Billie prepared to evacuate, she felt a tingle in her body. She rolled up her sleeve and saw her hair standing on end. Hades and Apollo began growling while Persephone began scanning the area. She attempted to release her other Pokémon but the green light indicated that it couldn't be done. Billie looked up and saw Jazz standing with a sack that had countless bulges in it. That's when the singing started.

" _I've got a lovely bunch a Pokémon du, du, du, du, du,_

 _Taken from some Team Rocket scum du, du, du, du, du,_

 _One~ 'bat, Zu~bat, all deserve a good home!_

 _But we just can't expect that out of some!_ "

"Flamethrower!" Apollo and Hades both jettisoned fire from their mouths. The only thing that kept Jazz and the forest from being burned was a Protect from Rhythm. "Hades!"

"Beat!"

"Mega Evolution!" Both the trainer's and the Rocket's Keystones began glowing. The Pokémon felt that energy well up in their Mega stones and accepted it into their bodies. They felt themselves transform in a rush that only be recognized as Mega Evolution. An Aura Sphere and Flamethrower met head-on the second the light faded. The Flamethrower was split down the middle but, the Aura Sphere had dissipated before it could reach Hades.

Apollo attempted to attack Jazz with a Focus Blast but, ended up getting rammed into by Icona's Dragon Rush. The two barreled out of the sky and crashed in the tent destroying it and leaving a pant-less Kidd exposed. He attempted to crawl away as two Dragon Pulses collided and, the shockwave helped him. Kidd now found himself caught in between the snarling Beat and Hades. Punches, claws, fire, and aura all flew as he desperately tried to get safety and not become collateral damage. Jazz running over his broken rib did not help. "That was on purpose, you bitch!"

Jazz wanted confirm his accusation but, the knife Billie was swinging demanded her immediate attention. Both of them had a few nicks on their arms and neither had any intention of backing down. Lacking a free arm to defend or grapple was forcing Jazz to stay on the offensive and, she did whatever it took to keep from having to defend. This included using unit commander B as an obstacle. Jazz took the momentary slow down to thrust her blade at Billie's chest. The attack was side stepped and, Jazz's arm grabbed. Billie flipped Jazz onto the table knocking the radio and marker away.

Billie didn't waste a breath before driving her knife down at Jazz's neck. Jazz rolled out of the way but wasn't completely clear as the cut in her shoulder indicated. When Jazz's feet touched the ground, her swung her other arm and finally realized that the sack of Pokéballs had been replaced with an Occa berry. Her eyes searched frantically hoping to find the sack and saw Rhythm attempting to take it back from Persephone. After escaping another slash from Billie Jazz shouted, "Ally Switch, with Tiësto!"

Rhythm complied teleporting herself away and placing the Electivire in front of a startled Trevenant. "Disengage!" Billie suddenly kicked Jazz in the chest and recalled both Hades and Persephone causing the attacks that had been aimed at them to go wide. Jazz was quick to get back on her feet and saw Billie hoist Kidd over her shoulder. She rushed at Billie's turned back but, was interrupted by Apollo flapping his large wings. After Billie had climbed onto to her Pokémon's back, she took off leaving the trainer with her own Pokémon.

Icona immediately flapped her wings to give chase. "Stop. Let 'em go." Jazz said as she looked at her knife. "That was good call." She put a hand on her shoulder to inspect the only wound she was concerned about. The rest were a Heal Pulse away from recovery. The blood on her hand said everything. "Yep, that was worse than I thought."

"I hate to say 'I told you so' but…" Beat began but stopped when she noticed the smile on Jazz's face.

"This is gonna be fun."

 **-#-**

"Where have you been?" Bianca said turning away from her newly caught Pidgey. "What happened to you!?"

"Hm?" Jazz hopped off of Icona and folded her arms. "Ran into Team Rocket. Got a bit rough. No biggie."

"What do you mean 'no biggie'? You're clothes are cut up and have blood on them!"

"I can sow this up when we make camp tonight. Then mix bleach with some Oran berry juice. It'll come right out."

"Jazz, this is serious!" Jazz found Bianca's dangerously close to her own. "The only person in Team Plasma who got this rough was Ghestis. What if something worse had happened?"

Jazz put her hands to her sides and tried not to stare at Bianca's chest. "Alright. I'll be more careful next time. Happy?"

"Don't be too angry, Bianca." Rhythm said. "She's not used to having other humans worry about her well-being."

"Seriously, last time she made human friends before you: eight months, give or take."

"What about that one chick from the Resort Area?"

"Doesn't count." They both said.

Bianca relaxed herself and smiled. "Okay, but next time there's trouble, tell me, please. I'm not as strong as you, White, or Cheren but, I can take care of myself."

"Fine, fine." Jazz said as she began moving back to the trail. "Whatever you say."

 **Please review if you have the time**


	3. You Gotta Get Yours

Updated 4/18/16

 **Chapter 3**

 **You Gotta Get Yours**

"I see." The police officer, who was a somewhat overweight man with five o'clock shadow, chewed on his pen clearly frustrated. Bianca sat in the grey room with just her and the officer getting asked question after question. It was not that she lacked any useful information but, rather that everything she'd told him was hearsay. Bianca never saw Team Rocket and as such nothing she said was admissible. Jazz had left to Route 22 to prepare for her gym battle as soon as they'd arrived in Viridian City. "Is there any way we can talk to this person directly? This is good information but, we need eye witnesses or photos to use it in court."

"No. They don't even want me to tell you their name. I'm really sorry." Bianca said.

"It's not your fault." The officer ran a hand through his greasy hair. "Look, all I can do is file this for reference and have some rangers on lookout for the base but, we can't really use this for a prosecution. Try to talk some sense into your friend for me. If he or she talks, their testimony could put at least put few 'em behind bars."

"Yeah, I'll try talking them." Bianca said as she stood up. The officer led her out of the police station and bid a goodbye leaving her to her own devices in Viridian City. It was barely one o'clock at this point which meant she had more than enough time to get the hard drive from Route 22.

First, however, she needed to get to the Pokémon Center and send Professor Oak the data from Route 1. And she had no idea where she was going. Viridian was moderately sized city, large enough to get lost in. The roofs of the city were tinted the namesake color or something close to it. Her first thought was to send Journey, the Pidgey she'd caught, to seek the Center out but, she quickly realized that Journey had no idea what it looked like. Still, she let the Pokémon out to allow her become acclimated to the city.

And like that, Bianca wandered around Viridian City with a Pidgey flitting around her head. As the two of them traversed the city, sometimes Bianca found herself looking at a boutique. Other times she considered purchasing pastries or Pokémon treats. Time and time again she ended up back at the city square. "Maybe I should ask for directions."

Bianca looked around the square and saw people eating lunch, talking with friends, or on their phone. She quickly locked on to a tall young man with a rust colored ponytail, brown slacks, and a brown hoodie. The Gligar that rested on his shoulder was attempting to eat his burger. "Um, excuse me."

The man and Pokémon stopped and looked down at Bianca. The man smiled when he saw the blonde and didn't even react when the Gligar took a bite of his burger. "Hello, miss. What can I do for you today?" Before Bianca could say anything, Journey flew to the man's arm and attempted to get a bite of his burger. "Oh, _come on_."

Bianca frantically began trying to call the Pidgey back to her own shoulder. In response to this, Gligar hopped off its perch went for another bite. Journey responded by flying around and diving for the burger. The man in turn swung his arm to avoid the beaks. He quickly passed the burger to burger to Bianca who in turn dodged a pass by the Gligar. There in the middle of the town square, a researcher's assignment, a young man, a Gligar, and a Pidgey played keep away with a burger until the humans finally placed their Pokémon in their Pokéballs.

"I am so sorry about that." Bianca was slightly out of breath at this point.

"Hey, no worries. My Gligar was just as bad" The man scarfed down what remained of his burger. "Fresh catch?"

"Yeah, I caught her on the way from Pallet Town."

"I sure hear that story a lot." He mused. "The name's Roland by the way. You don't strike me as one of the rookies from Pallet Town, though."

"My name's Bianca and, that's because I'm not." She explained. "I'm actually from Unova, helping Professor Oak with some research. And I was wondering if you could tell me how to get to the Pokémon Center."

"Actually I've got a bit of time before I need be back. How 'bout I just walk you there myself." Bianca agreed and, the pair began a trek to road that she could swear she went down at least three times. "So the Unova region, huh? That's a pretty long way from here. What kind of research are we talking about?"

"Pokémon population shifts over the course of ten years." Bianca said. "Normally ten years wouldn't be enough for this kind of thing barring a serious natural disaster but, with the crazy stunts all these terrorist groups have pulling recently, there's reason to believe that this data could prove vital to conservation efforts of rare Pokémon. For example these guys called Team Plasma nearly destroyed Unova with a glacier."

"Oh yeah! And there was that nutcase in Kalos who fired some kind of ancient super weapon a few months back. That shit was crazy. Apparently it nearly destroyed the whole region. Sure, we've got those Team Rocket assholes running around but, they've never pulled anything like that." Roland paused for a moment. "Well, they've gotten close at least."

Bianca raised an eyebrow before she started giggling. "You're not talking about 'Mewtwo' are you?" She included air quotes. "That's just rumor. Then people had the nerve to claim it was involved in that incident at Stark Mountain eight months ago. Plus, there's hardly any evidence that even Mew exists, mostly just anecdotes and myths."

"Alright, Miss Scientist. I'll admit I heard about Mewtwo from my co-workers. I'm the new guy so, they may have just been screwing with me. But the Stark Mountain incident, they've been a little too tight lipped about that for my taste."

"You're not going into some conspiracy theory are you?"

"No, I'm just saying what the entire Internet's been saying: something doesn't add up. Oh and we're here." Roland waved a hand at the Viridian City Pokémon Center. "But before I go, I have to admit that I'd like to get to know you better. You, me, tomorrow night at a nice Kalosonian restaurant. Meet me at the square at seven-thirty?"

Bianca blushed and shuffled her feet a bit. She quickly composed herself and said, "I'd love too but, my friend Jazz is gonna challenge the Gym tomorrow then leave right afterwards. She kinda got hassled into travelling with me in the first place so, I'd feel bad if I slowed her down for a date."

"You seem pretty sure she's gonna get the badge."

"Actually, one of my really good friends is a Gym Leader so, I think I know what I'm talking about when I say that unless the Gym Leader goes all out, she'll definitely win the battle. Even if she doesn't win she'll still get badge."

Roland grinned and pulled a receipt and pen out of his pocket. "Well, with that vote of confidence I guess I don't stand a chance." After scribbling something down, Roland handed Bianca the receipt. "Here, give me a call in case something changes."

"Thanks. I will." The two waved goodbye to one another went their separate ways. Bianca entered the Pokémon Center and could barely contain her want to sing in happiness. She ignored the strange looks she received and danced her way to the vid-phone. All while humming a cheerful tune she linked the hard drive and the vid-phone together with a USB cord and began to send the data to Professor Oak. On impulse she called Cheren and happily told him about her encounter.

When she finished the Gym Leader took a sip of coffee from a ceramic mug with the Basic Badge painted on it and replied, "Hello, Bianca. It's nice to see you. How was your flight to the Kanto region?" Bianca blushed again. Cheren chuckled. "I'm just messing with you. I was bit worried when I heard about what happened at Professor Oak's lab but, it's obvious you're okay. Though this Roland guy, was he a bit older than us, tall, with brown hair in a ponytail?"

"Yeah. Why? Do you know him?"

"Bianca, I'm pretty sure the Viridian City Gym Leader just asked you out." Bianca once again was blushing. "On top of that you probably incentivized him to fight at full strength. Your new friend…Jasmine right?"

"Actually, I'm pretty sure it's just Jazz."

"Either way she'll be in for a tough battle. Now on to my personal concern. About these Team Rocket people, are you sure everything's alright?"

"Well, no." Bianca told Cheren about what happened the day before and how Jazz wouldn't talk to the police. Cheren was silent for a few seconds clearly in thought. "She's not working for Team Rocket if that's what you're thinking."

"I'm not." Cheren raised his hands defensively. "But you have to admit that raises a red flag. Unless she's just doing this to play hero then why is she doing it at all? On top of that it's not like she _had_ to attack all the Rockets. All she needed to do was stop them from reaching from you. There was no need to fight thirty of them. Then again, she may have just exaggerated and been too stubborn to admit it.

"All I'm saying is to be careful. If we've learned anything from Team Plasma, it's that these people are willing to go the extra mile to get what they want. With that in mind, I'd recommend bringing some of your strongest Pokémon with you especially now that you know that Team Rocket's after the hard drives. No offense to Jazz but, the numbers game will catch up eventually. Anyway I've really gotta hang up now. I was supposed to be at the school a few minutes ago. Take care, Bianca."

"You too, Cheren. Bye."

"Bye." The call ended and, Bianca was back at the vid-phone's main menu. In the bottom right corner, the progress bar showed that forty-five percent of the data had been transferred. Fortunately the cost for such a huge transfer would come out of the Inter Regional Pokémon Research Institute or IRPRI's wallet rather than her own. Long distance calls were not covered, however and, Pokémon transfers depended on who was involved in the transfer. An IRPRI affiliated research facility meant it was free. Bianca put the call in to Professor Juniper's lab.

"Bianca, I was wondering when I'd hear from you. How's everything going?" Bianca once again found herself recounting the arduous two days she'd been having. "I see. Your new friend is alright I'd assume."

"Yeah, she's fine, surprisingly. I actually called to have some Pokémon sent over here. Drema and Noland specifically."

"I thought that was it. Just give me second to get them over here. Drema! Noland!" Juniper called and both Pokémon appeared. Drema, the Musharna, teleported next to the researcher's head. Noland, the Stoutland, barreled in barking. Noland looked at the screen and began wagging his tail. He leapt forward out the camera's view and licked the screen. Professor Juniper pulled him and Drema into their Pokéballs before the Stoutland accidently broke something. The Pokémon were then transferred from Unova to Kanto in a few seconds.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Just be careful alright. If you get hurt your dad might seriously have a heart attack."

"I know." Bianca replied and ended the call. The screen went back to the main menu and the progress bar was at one hundred percent. After disconnecting the hard drive and logging out of the machine, Bianca exited to the building to the yard in the back. Here, she let Barb at out of her Pokéball. She then tossed the hard drive into the air. "Incinerate!" Barb complied blasting the computer part with an intense focused stream of flames. When it hit the ground few parts that hadn't been completely scorched were sparking. Bianca had Barb pick up the heated remains and throw them in a nearby trash can.

 **-#-**

On Route 22 a boy, a rookie trainer was off the main path. Most Pokémon tended to avoid the paths as trainers were likely to be walking along and would capture them. In a sky blue hooded jacket, grey cargo shorts, and black gym shoes, he and his Treeko, Conifer, carefully watched their target. The boy was crouched down within a patch of tall grass. Underneath his short black hair and behind grey eyes, Nico believed he could capture the Mankey who was eating a meal of berries.

"Quick attack." Conifer lunged out of the grass striking his now angry target. "Bullet Seed at its feet!" Nico was now standing up in the grass with in empty Pokéball at the ready. The Mankey responded by jumping into the air and scratching Conifer when it landed. "Absorb!" Green translucent tendrils came from the Treeko's tail and latched on to the Mankey. It staggered and was clearly woozy.

Nico smiled as a chance presented itself. He pulled his arm back and prepared to throw his Pokéball but, something stopped him. It was sound. Not just one sound but, a multitude of similar ones. Nico looked around and saw what had produced these sounds. In grass and trees there they were: pack of Mankey and Primape each growling and staring at Conifer. When he saw the wild Pokémon slowly begin to move toward his own, Nico removed Conifer's Pokéball and withdrew him before he turned around and ran.

Through grass and under trees, Nico desperately tried to escape the furious pack. Their screams and pounding feet drove out any semblance of exhaustion the boy had considered. The rampage stirred up the Pokémon on the Route sending them in every direction that wasn't occupied by Mankey.

Nico looked around and saw nothing but more grass and mountains to the other side of him with a massive expanse separating them. In front of him loomed a sheer rock face. That's when his feet left the ground. The world blurred and, he felt himself accelerated upwards. When, the movement ceased he could feel his blood swirling around uncomfortably in his body.

He was dropped to rock surface and stood up when the spinning stopped. Next to him were Beat and Jazz who both looked down at the advancing pack of Mankey and Primape from the sheer rock face with what Nico could only describe as calm excitement. "Hey kid, wanna see somethin' awesome?" Jazz said with a wide smile. Nico hesitantly nodded. Jazz stood up and walked to a spot that was in between Rhythm and Icona. "Let a rip! Whimsical Wind!"

Rhythm formed a Moonblast and lobbed it into the air. Icona swiftly flew into the air and positioned herself just behind the Moonblast with her wings outstretched. The Dragonite began flapping vigorously generating a Hurricane that collided with the Fairy type move. The Moonblast dissolved into small particles of energy that mixed with Hurricane. The result was storm that was comprised of an innumerable mix of pinks and purples. That storm wasted no time engulfing still charging the pack of Mankey and Primape along with trees and grasses they were among. The sound of an unstoppable wind drowned their cries of rage and their off white fur was dyed pink and purple.

The storm vanished as quickly as it had arrived. In its wake unconscious Fighting types fell from the air and were accompanied by specks of glittering pink dust. The Gardevoir, the Dragonite, and their trainer lined up along the edge of the rock and took a bow. Without missing a beat, Jazz sat down with her legs folded in one swift motion. "Well, ya gonna stand there gawkin' all day or are ya gonna thank the ladies who saved your scrawny ass?"

Nico's snapped out of his awe induced trance and stepped back right into Beat stabbing himself on her chest spike. He then nervously moved toward Jazz and her other Pokémon. "I, um, t-thanks. I-I'm, I'm Nico by the way."

Jazz could barely contain her laugh. "Would you relax? You're stiff as a Nosepass." She motioned for him to sit down and he complied. "The name's Jazz. So why the hell were those things after you anyway? Most Pokémon don't chase anyone that hard unless you try to attack their nest or young." Nico then explained how his attempt to capture went horribly wrong. "Huh I knew they were short tempered but, damn. Guess that's why the nurse at the Pokémon Center told me not to piss 'em off. So why did you try to catch one anyway? They're not exactly recommended for rookies, y'know? Even veteran trainers rarely deal with 'em."

Nico face went from nervous to sad. "I challenged Roland, the Viridian Gym Leader, yesterday. I thought my Treeko could beat whatever Ground types he sent at us but, he sent out a Swinub."

"Gligar." Jazz said plainly

"Huh."

"Ya got a Pokédex?" Nico nodded and pulled the cherry red device out of his pocket. Jazz opened Pokédex and pulled up the Pokémon she'd named. "See, Gligar and Gliscor. Flying and Ground type. Gym Leaders usually scale the strength of the Pokémon they use to match the trainer's. No doubt he would switch up to keep ya on your toes. Sure a Mankey would take care of Swinub but not without taking some damage. Not to mention he might go with a Numel or a Gible or something else that balances out the grass weakness. But, all that's assumin' that he still couldn't just out smart ya. Hell, Dugtrio can learn Aerial Ace to the surprise of everyone. Have I even mentioned how hard Mankey and Primape are to control. Right up there with fresh caught Gyrados and Hydreigon. Seriously, it can get deadly. And that's not getting started on move coverage yet. The Swinub line can learn Freeze Dry which is super-effective against Water types. Once saw some poor guy lose a match because he didn't realize that. And then there's Gligar with poison…"

" _Jazz_ …" Rhythm mentally nudged her to look at Nico who was now completely dejected.

"Alright, kid, look at it this way. Blue, Cynthia, Iris, Steven and even the livin' legend Red had been trainers for a few years before they won their League tournament. And even longer before they became champions. So don't sweat the losses now. Hell, I went around training under Gym Leaders for a few years. Then I took on a Battle Frontier. At least wait until then to decide if ya have what it takes."

"Geez, when you put like it that it just seems a one long uphill battle." Nico commented.

Jazz tilted her head and folded her arms. "Yep, that 'bout sums it up. Someone once told me that the path of a Pokémon trainer is sorta like that one myth where the guy has to roll the boulder up a hill and it'll just roll back down when he gets there. First of all the boulder's fuckin' heavy. Secondly once ya get to the top, _everyone's_ gonna want a piece o' you. That's just the nature of the game. Everyone fightin' for a seat at the top. And like a fuckton of other people, I wanna be the very best."

Jazz stood back up. "But y'know, talkin' will never do Pokémon battlin' any justice so, I'll tell ya what. Stop by the Gym at nine o'clock sharp. I'm challengin' the Gym Leader first thing tomorrow, anyway so, ya may as well watch. You'll get to see the bandit of Orre's first big win in person."

Before Nico had realized it Jazz, Rhythm, and Beat were on her Dragonite's back and in the air. He looked around the rock he was on and drank in the view. Then a simple thought occurred to him. "How do I get down?"

 **-#-**

Kidd knocked on the door to Noah's office. Noah was one of the fifteen Team Rocket administrators, a spot Kidd would be more than happy to claim as soon as Noah was whacked or incarcerated. His former admin, Samson would be more than happy to vouch for him.

"Wassup, boss?" He entered without actually being invited to do so. He slumped down in the chair in front of the Admin's desk and said, "Hey you need get the geek squad down here by the way. My key card ain't working. It's not letting me into the meeting rooms or commanders lounge."

"That's not a technical error, Kidd." Kidd raised his eyebrows. "I called you in here to tell you that you've been demoted to a grunt. Your key card reflects this accordingly."

"The fuck is this Tauros-shit!" Kidd was now standing up face red with anger. "Samson's the one who gave me this spot! You think he's just gonna stand by and let you knock me down to grunt!?"

"Billie thought you might try that yell and stand over me trick." Noah's face cracked into a smile. "By both Billie's reports and your own, as unit commander you have had ten grunts be killed and twenty incarcerated as a direct result of your actions. That's thirty grunts gone. That's not even counting Pokémon we lost. Do you know how close we were to losing the same amount yesterday because you couldn't keep yourself in line?"

"Who cares about the grunts!? We can always get more! 'Sides all those Pokémon were weaklings anyway!"

Noah shook his head. "As usual you miss the point. You've proven that you can't handle standard missions without taking egregious losses. Your own ribs are testament to that. You expect me to believe that when the chips are down, you'll step up and get the job done without losing all of the ones under you?

"Team Rocket isn't a group of cartoon villains, Kidd. We may be the strong arm of this organization but, the real money comes from various operations that your renegade actions have jeopardized in the past! Understand? You are a grunt and will remain so until you prove that you can deal with the facts I just laid before you. Now get the hell out my office."

Kidd knocked the lamp off of Noah's desk before storming out of the room. "It's all those two bitches' fault!" Kidd shouted down in the office building that served as one of Team Rocket's bases. "I swear to God when I find that brat I'm gonna choke the life out of her with my bare hands! But what to do about the other one?"

The other one, Billie, was currently sitting at a computer screen. Her eyes were fixated on a Pokémon battle: Jazz versus the Tower Tycoon Palmer. The bandit of Orre: that's what the forums had taken to calling her when she stopped a forty-eight straight win streak in the Battle Tower as her first match. Thanks to her distinctive clothes and that her Gardevoir and Lucario seldom left her side, the girl easy to track down.

Jazz Heterodyne was sixteen-years-old. Her place of birth was unlisted but, she grew up in Pyrite Town. She obtained her trainer ID at nine and has been popping up all over the world since. Her records in battle showed that she was well above the curve, someone who had the potential to stand as one the greats. "Unfortunately it seems that you intend to get in our way. And who names their kid 'Jazz'?"

 **-#-**

It was 8:55 and, Jazz, Rhythm, and Beat were standing outside the Viridian Gym waiting for it to open. The building was rather plain looking with a glass front entrance and green walls on the other sides though Jazz noted that the roof sat very low for a Pokémon Gym. The image of the Earth Badge was painted over the door. The Gym's position relative to the morning sun cast a shadow on the concrete stairs that lead to its front entrance chilling the air slightly.

Jazz's mind was exactly where she wanted it be. Every tactic she'd come up with for the near infinite possibilities buzzed through her head and refined themselves to more forms that could be used in the battle. She never lingered on one, however. After all, no plan survived contact with the enemy.

"Hey! Jazz!" Jazz looked up and saw Bianca walking toward the Gym. Nico was walking next to her with Conifer riding on his shoulder. Jazz almost chuckled when she noticed that Nico seemed nervous about something.

"Uh, hi, Jazz." Nico shuffled his feet a bit and attempted to hide his blush.

"Bianca, Short-stuff, glad ya make it." Jazz's mouth said with a wave. Her mind on the hand asked Rhythm, " _What was his name again?_ "

" _You can find out yourself,_ " was the reply.

When nine o'clock came the door was unlocked and, Jazz stepped inside without a word. The lobby was a plain as it could get. The front desk manned by a Gym trainer was on the left. A sign that said "Please Take a Number" was attached below a set of plastic cards that were numbered one through ten. The most interesting feature was the ceramic pieces that hung from the walls.

"Whichever one of you is gonna challenge the Gym first doesn't need a number and, you're free to spectate before your matches." The trainer stifled a yawn.

"Stuck mannin' the front desk. That takes me back." Jazz said as she looked around. "It's just gonna me battlin'. It's cool if they just watch, right?"

"Yeah, but they need to come back here and take a number if they change their minds. Just place your trainer ID in front of the scanner in the elevator."

"Well, that much ain't my problem." Jazz walked through the door leading to the battle arena. The room was poorly lit with the most discernible features being an elevator and a chain link fence spread out from either side. She walked up the chain link fence and grabbed it between her fingers. This was her favorite part about Pokémon battle facilities. Each one had a personal touch from the trainer in charge. Through the fence she could see the hundred-fifty foot drop that led the arena. "That explains why the rest o' the place looks so borin'. Dude spent all his money on a hole."

"You mean other Gyms are like this too?" Nico asked.

"Kid, one place where I trained was built like a gigantic dollhouse and, another was this giant space walkway thing." Jazz said without looking away from the arena.

"And one in Unova had you walk through honey to get around." Bianca added. "I was sticky for _days_."

This prompted Jazz's thoughts to move headlong away from the battle. The only thing on her mind at the moment was Bianca covered in honey and just honey. "Oh hot damn…"

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

A slap from Beat knocked her back into reality. "Anyway, I gotta go on down this elevator to get to the arena, right?" The five of them stepped on to the elevator. The panel had two buttons: top and spectator. The scanner was set below a LED screen that had "Welcome to the Viridian City Gym" going across the foreground and an image of the Earth Badge in the background. Jazz pulled out her trainer ID card and scanned it. Her name, Jazz Heterodyne, and her trainer ID number, 18537, appeared on the screen before the words "5 Star Direct". The elevator came to life and began its decent.

"What's 5 Star Direct?" Bianca asked. "Cheren mentions it every now and then but…"

"You know how Gym challenges usually work." Jazz began "Normally you battle a few of the Gym trainers, three to seven dependin', while goin' through the Gym then get the right to challenge the Gym leader if you beat them. Trainers with Star Directs are allowed to skip that part. Typically Star Directs are awarded based on type. For example, if you do really well against a Flyin' type Gym Leader or study under one as a Gym trainer, they'll give ya the Flyin' Star Direct and then you can directly challenge another Flyin' type Gym Leader. For example, I studied under Valerie, Drayden, Olympia, Winona, Wattson, and Korrina so, I had Fairy, Dragon, Psychic, Electric, and Fightin' type Star Directs.

"5 Star Directs are based mostly on battle records and recommendations from high level trainers and are handled case by case. Basically if you have one, it means you're pretty damn awesome. For perspective, Red and Blue had 5 Star Directs." The elevator dinged. "Sheesh, took long enough."

The three stepped off of the elevator into a corridor that split three ways. Jazz went up the center path to the edge of the brightly arena while Bianca and Nico went right. The entire battlefield and the walls around it were composed of red clay. The trainers' boxes were raised a foot above everything else as was the referee's box. To either of the long sides of the battlefield were a set of bleachers behind force fields. Above the bleachers to the elevator's left was a large screen that was built into the wall. On it Jazz's ID picture and a picture of Roland were shown with five Pokéballs beneath them.

"5 Star Direct, huh!?" Roland said from the other side of the arena. "Bianca wasn't kidding. Fine with me! That just means we'll get to have fun on this fine morning!" Roland pounded his hand into his fist. "Hey, Bianca! In the event of my victory, the offer for that date still stands!"

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind when I'm cheering!" Bianca shouted from her seat. Nico failed at pretending to ignore it.

"Yeah! And I'll keep _this_ in mind when we're goin' through the Viridian Forest!" Jazz shouted with gritted teeth.

"Ahem…" The referee, another Gym trainer, stood on his mound. "The following will be a five on five single Pokémon battle between Jazz Heterodyne of Pyrite Town, henceforth referred to as the challenger and Roland Kellstadt the Viridian Gym Leader, henceforth referred to as the Gym Leader! During the battle either side is allowed substitutions! During the battle either side may only have five Pokémon on their person! The conditions for victory are that all of the opposing side's Pokémon are rendered unable to battle! Upon victory the challenger will automatically receive the Earth Badge! Upon defeat the challenger may receive the Earth Badge based upon the Gym Leader's evaluation! Do both trainers understand these conditions!?" Both responded in confirmation. "Take the trainer's box when you're ready!"

Jazz removed Beat's Pokéball from her belt and tossed it to the Lucario. "Keep Bianca and the kid company. And see if you can get his name for me."

"No promises." Beat said before entering the corridor.

Jazz gave her a thumb up and stepped onto the box with Rhythm right next to her. On the other box across the field, Roland stood with one Pokéball in hand and two on clips on each leg of his pants. "Both trainers may send in their first Pokémon!"

"Rhythm, it's show time." The Gardevoir teleported herself onto the battlefield.

"Tundra, shake things up!" Out of Roland's Pokéball emerged a Mamoswine, female based on the size of the tusks, and with it a chill in the air.

"Are both trainers ready!?" Confirmation came from both sides. "Begin!"

"Sandstorm!"

"Mega evolution!" The light of Rhythm's Mega Evolution was smothered by the red sand that engulfed the entire battlefield. Jazz moved her hands quickly and pulled her bandana up and her goggles down. The red shadows of Rhythm and Tundra had blended together for a moment before all that was left was the Mamoswine. Jazz quickly located Rhythm in the sandstorm and ordered a Magical Leaf.

"Amnesia!" The only sign that the Magical Leaves hit was that their distorted light vanished against Tundra. Tundra charged again with what Jazz assumed to be Iron Head due the metallic red tint.

"House Mafia: track 5!" Jazz shouted. Rhythm teleported again and appeared right behind Tundra. Her shadow multiplied and surrounded Tundra. Then, in sync, each of them raised their hands to their chest.

"Stone Wall!" A wall of sharp stones erupted from the ground. The rocks intercepted the first Focus Blast that was fired from what seemed like all directions. The wall to the right of the Mamoswine crumbled on impact. "Earthquake!"

"Protect!" The arena shook and rendered what little visibility Jazz had to nearly zero. "Teleport closer to me!" Rather than that, Rhythm was sent flying across the battlefield and crashed in the red clay wall behind Jazz. "So much for out speedin' it. Sunny day, then Future Sight: Side b: track 3 in 45." Jazz's eyes remained on what she could see of Tundra who firing Ice Beams in the sandstorm.

Rhythm launched a ball of bright yellow energy into the sky. The sandstorm dissipated and the temperature in the arena changed from a mild spring to an uncomfortable summer day without A/C. In the bright sun, the walls of transparent ice that had been erected shimmered. The walls created a zigzagging obstacle course that Tundra was navigating with her surprising speed. "Grass Knot!"

"Body Slam!" Tundra jump into air and sailed over the distance to Rhythm. Rhythm immediately teleported out of the way among the walls and, Tundra created a significant impression on the ground where she landed. She immediately turned around and prepared for a charge but, Roland interrupted. "Circle around!"

Tundra followed the command and ran around the perimeter of ice walls to Jazz left. "Energy Ball! Shoot through those barriers." Rhythm fired off her attack and blasted apart one of the ice walls. When the wall shattered a powerful gust pulled the shards of ice and Rhythm forward and disrupted the Energy Ball. Tundra seized the opportunity and rammed into Rhythm with Iron Head at full force. This time, she was knocked into the force field that protected Bianca and Nico causing both of them to jump and narrowly missing the referee. Beat laughed at all of them. "Dazzling Gleam! Destroy all of them!"

"Protect!" Rhythm began firing the Dazzling Gleam the ice walls shattered having already been weakened by the sunlight. Each wall created a suction wave causing pieces of broken is to fly unpredictably. When the Mamoswine's Protect dropped, Future Sight arrived with a Will-O-Wisp. Tundra was quickly bathed in white and blue flames that scorched her large body delivering a deep burn. "Ancient Power."

Red stones burst out of the ground and flung themselves at Rhythm. She protected herself then attacked with Hyper Voice. Tundra charged forward through the Hyper Voice with Iron Head which Rhythm dodged to her left. Tundra once again showed off her agility and deftly turned to deliver her attack. Rhythm was knocked off her feet and used Grass Knot sending the Mamoswine to the ground. "Hyper Beam! Now!"

Before Tundra could stand back up, she was hit by the Hyper Beam which was a shade of fuchsia rather than the usual purple. The beam exploded on contact and sent chunks of clay into air. When the dust settled and the referee regained his footing from the shockwave, Tundra was staggering. She attempted to step forward only to buckle on herself. "The Gym Leader's Mamoswine is unable to battle!" The referee said. "Will the Gym Leader please send in his next Pokémon?"

"Yeah, that was nice." Roland admitted and returned Tundra to her Pokéball. "Nothing to worry about; this is far from over." He pulled out his second Pokéball. "Saltate, shake things up!" Out came a Gliscor carrying a toxic orb.

"Continue!" The referee shouted.

"Rhythm, withdraw!" Jazz pulled Rhythm into her seldom used Pokéball and threw out another. "Icona, show time!" The Dragonite let out a roar and took the air as Sunny Day faded. Saltate's X-scissor was met by a Dragon Claw and was quickly over powered. The Gliscor backed off and flew higher into the air and, Icona immediately gave chase. "Watch out for the walls! He's waiting to use Stone Edge!"

"Ice Fang!" Saltate changed directions and flung himself at Icona. His mouth was wide open and chilled the air around it. Icona did an aileron roll to dodge, wrapped her tail around Saltate and followed with Slam but, the Gliscor pulled out of the crash before hitting the ground.

"Ice Beam!"

"Dig! Prepare to fire!" Saltate dove into ground and just avoiding a blast of focus cold. Before Jazz gave the order, Icona landed where Saltate had dug into ground and used Stone Edge. The rocks traced along the Gliscor's path right down the middle of the battlefield towards Roland and forced him out of the ground. When he emerged, Saltate used Fling and launched his toxic orb at Icona. He connected but at the price of taking a direct hit the Stone Edge. "Double Team!"

"Dragon Dance!" As Saltate began making decoys of himself, Icona performed an intense dance and was shrouded in a dark red aura. "Night Visions: track 12!" Icona vanished and the decoys began to be destroyed by a green blur. The copies vanished completely when the real Saltate was hit. He immediately put up a Protect and defended himself against the Ice Punch. A half dome of ice remained when the Protect faded.

Saltate flew around the ice wall and delivered an Ice Fang to Icona's left wing. She craned her neck doused the Gliscor in a Flamethrower forcing him off. Icona followed up with a Stone Edge that chased Saltate up the wall. Saltate landed on the last stone and dodged an Ice Punch. "Icona! Roost!"

Icona landed where Saltate had and shrouded herself in a white energy. When the energy faded she winced finally feeling the effects of the toxic orb. She slowly floated down to the battlefield and watched as Saltate circled overhead. "Icona, withdraw! Rhythm, Protect!" Rhythm's Protect shielded her from an incoming Venoshock. "Heal Bell, stereo!" Rhythm's body glowed in a golden light. The energy dispersed itself across the battlefield tinting the air, rocks, Pokémon and trainers.

"Saltate, withdraw! Tephra, shake things up!" The Camerupt appeared on the field and was hit by a Moonblast. The purple glow faded and, Tephra was standing unfazed. "Flash Cannon!" Tephra opened her mouth and unleashed a silver-tinted beam of energy. Rhythm dove behind one of the jagged rocks that were protruding from the ground for cover.

"Rhythm, withdraw! Darude, Track 0." Darude appeared behind the rock without any illusion. "Hone Claws!" Darude dodged a Flame Burst that had arced over the wall before he covered his hands dark energy and turned his eyes pitch black. When the energy faded Darude promptly used Night Daze which was met by Flamethrower. The attacks struggled with each for a few tense seconds and began merging into a black flame. They eventually curved away from one another and marred the battlefield; the Flamethrower scorching the ground and, the Night Daze carving into it.

"Earth Power!" Before Jazz or Darude could react the ground beneath the Zoroark burst open. Blasts of brown light came out of the crevice, enveloping Darude before knocking him into the air. He quickly reoriented himself and landed on all four with his eyes glowing in the same light he'd just been hit with. Darude was caught in wave of flames when he landed but, Tephra was hit by the same energy she'd just attacked with. "Tephra, withdraw! Silt, Dragon Rush!"

"U-turn!" By the time Darude got started up his attack, Roland's Garchomp had already crashed in him. They flew through one the rocks walls and stopped when they hit the arena wall to right of Jazz. Silt stepped and let Darude fall to the ground. "Crap…"

"The challenger's Zoroark is unable to battle! Will the challenger please send in her next Pokémon?"

"I didn't realize Zoroark could learn Copycat." Roland admitted as Silt moved to the center of the battlefield. "I'll have to keep that in mind."

"Life Orb huh…" Jazz returned Darude to his Pokéball and weighed her options for a second. "Gotta, stick to the plan for now…" She mumbled. She looked at the screen and noted that both she and Roland had one KO each. Jazz had two Pokémon that hadn't been used and Roland had one. "Jimi, show time!"

"Continue!" Silt immediately went in with another Dragon Rush. Jimi's reaction was to use Stone Edge to create a platform from underneath himself. The platform was shattered and Jimi land on his feet and fired a barrage of Seed Bombs causing Silt to crash into the ground.

"Curse!" Jimi's body was covered in a red energy that quickly faded. He then ate his White Herb.

"Dragon Claw!" Silt was back on his feet and charging. Jimi met him Iron Head first which blocked the attack. The Pokémon then rammed into one another and grappled for control. When Silt quickly gained the upper hand and was prepared to flip Jimi, the Torterra used Stone Edge to separate them and fell back closer to Jazz. He fired a volley of Seed Bombs to slow Silt down even further before digging his feet into the ground.

"Leaf Phantom!" Jimi swung his body and unleashed two volleys of leaves that created a seamless optical illusion. Silt dove to the left only to be knocked off course and pinned down by the second wave. When the Garchomp attempted to stand back up, Jimi slammed into him with Wood Hammer. Silt was pressed in the clay wall beneath the screen and, Jimi pelted him with Seed Bombs. Any attempt at pulling himself forward was denied.

"Silt, withdraw! Loam, Mega Evolution! Then duck and cover." A Swampert emerged onto the field and Mega Evolved instantly. He was met by a volley of Seed Bombs that was dodged by digging underground. From roughly the center of the field a blue orb of energy rose through the ground and into the sky. The orb disappeared in a flash and in its place black clouds hovered over the arena. Roland threw up his hood as the rain began.

"Woodstock: track 2!" From Jimi's body, a green spread across the ground before being replaced by grass. Loam then burst out the ground front of Jimi with his fist reared back and coated in a blue tinted mist. Jimi met the attack with Iron Head but, was still pushed back. A grass covered Stone Edge separated the Pokémon and, Jimi took the moment to backup firing a few Seed Bombs to further the distance. When a significant distance was created, the Torterra turned around was covered in the green energy of Wood Hammer. When he began charging the Grassy Terrain broke apart into bits of green energy and flowed back towards Jimi. The result was a Wood Hammer that was much darker tint of green than usual.

Jimi's head went right into Loam's chest pushing the Swampert backwards several meters. Both Pokémon staggered back for a moment attempting to shake the attack off. Loam steadied himself first and was cloaked in light blue energy before he lunged forward into his opponent. Jimi was knocked back and blasted by freezing energy. Small batches of ice appeared on his shell and legs. He staggered forward before finally his legs gave out. "The challenger's Torterra is unable to battle! Will the challenger please send in her next Pokémon?"

"Rhythm, you're back on!" Rhythm turned to her head to the screen when she materialized then looked back at Jazz.

"Continue!"

"Loam, withdraw! Tephra, duck and cover!" Tephra's dive underground saved her from an incoming Physhock. Rhythm scanned the area and waited for Tephra to reemerge. As Rain Dance wore off, she felt the heat from below and used Protect to block the Eruption before Teleporting away. When the lava fell, Tephra bounded out of the ground with a Flash Cannon ready to fire. Rhythm dodged to the left and let beam hit the wall past Roland.

"Mean Look!" Rhythm eyes suddenly changed. Her sclera turned a dark purple while her irises glowed red. Tephra was covered in energy of the same hue. When the colors dissipated, Rhythm was immediately on the offensive. She fired an Energy Ball in the Camerupt's direction and, it was torched by Flamethrower. Rhythm threw up a Light Screen and began firing attacks from behind it leaving Tephra to dodge in the open. A solid Flash Cannon shattered the barrier and, Rhythm was just as much in the open.

Tephra continually breathed hot flames and swerved to dodge Psyshocks. Occasionally she would switch it up and use Flash Cannon which was much faster and twice as effective against Rhythm's fairy-typing. Rhythm for her part was moving just as deftly and kept Tephra off guard with her own attack swaps switching between Psyshock and Energy Ball. The long ranged dance finally ended when a Psyshock clipped Tephra's hind leg. The Camerupt tripped on itself. Rhythm delivered one direct Hyper Beam in that moment. The dust cleared and Tephra was unconscious.

"The Gym Leader's Camerupt is unable to battle! Will the Gym Leader please send in his next Pokémon?" Roland withdrew Tephra and sent Loam back in. "Continue!"

"Rhythm, withdraw! Icona, Dragon Pulse!" Icona fired at the ground halting the Mega Swampert's Waterfall.

"Ice Punch!" Roland shouted. In response, Loam leapt into the air with his fist shroud in blue-white mist. Icona too surprised to dodge matched him with her own Fire Punch but, was still knocked back. She corrected herself when she landed but, Loam was already on the attack. Icona flapped her wings and shot straight into the air. Loam's response was to grab her by the tail but found himself being pulled into the air with the Dragonite. Loam attempted to climb the tail for a better position for Ice Punch. He nearly lost his grip when Icona took a sharp turn downward and was slammed into the ground.

When the impact forced Loam to relinquish his grip, Icona wasted no time and delivered a Dragon Claw to his torso. Instead of reeling back from the hit, however, Loam grabbed Icona by the wrist and pulled her in right into an Ice Punch across the face. Icona was knocked down and sent skidding across the ground. When she stopped she did not get back up.

Jazz ignored the referee and pulled Icona back to her Pokéball. Rhythm was back on field and, the battle continued with two exhausted Mega Evolved Pokémon staring each other down. Rhythm moved first and used Magical Leaf to force Loam's arms up for defense. "Tomorrow World: track 2!" Rhythm's eyes glowed for a moment and, the entire battlefield was covered in a pink low lying mist. Loam charged. Rhythm teleported out of the way and fired off an Energy Ball that Loam blocked using Ice Punch.

Loam slammed his fist at the ground setting off a tremor that shook the entire arena. Rhythm responded with an Energy Ball the landed square against Loam's head. The Swampert barely flinched and charged forward with his body covered in water. When he hit Rhythm, she was knocked through the air but was able to land on her feet well enough. Her fatigue was visible at this point though. Her shoulders were heaving and her eyes lowering.

"We need finish this now! Epicenter!" Roland shouted. At the same the Misty Terrain broke down into pink energy and gravitated towards Rhythm. In her hands a Hyper Beam formed. This time though the energy gathered from the Misty Terrain turned it from fuchsia to bright pink. Loam, body glowing amber, slammed his fists into the ground. In front of him the ground shot upward as though something were shoving it from underneath. The height increased the further away from Loam it went but, the Hyper Beam still flew over them. Both attacks hit their targets. Loam was hidden in cloud dust that tinted pink from the residual energy. Rhythm was knocked backwards and struck repeatedly by the still rising ground until the wave ceased.

The smoke cleared and Rhythm had stopped rolling back. Both Pokémon had reverted back to their normal forms and lay on the ground unmoving. "Both the challenger's Gardevoir and the Gym Leader's Swampert are unable to battle! Will both trainers please send in their next Pokémon?"

"Saltate, it's the home stretch!" Roland shouted as he sent his Gliscor back in.

"Yolanda, show time!" Jazz through her last Pokémon onto battlefield same grin she had when the battle started. In the air floated a Vanilluxe. Roland took pause at Jazz's final Pokémon. Nico had pulled out his Pokédex and looked up Vanilluxe. A warning that said they were capable of causing deadly snowstorms if enraged was the first thing that came up.

"Continue!" Yolanda immediately used Acid Armor and was set upon by Saltate whose teeth were on fire. Before the Gliscor could reach her, she ate an Occa berry and was coated in an orange aura. When Saltate had clamped down, Yolanda breathed out a Blizzard that covered the Gliscor in snow. With his wings weighed down, Saltate lost his grip and fell before taking a direct hit from Yolanda's Ice Beam. Covered in ice he fell to ground leaving Yolanda nearly completely unharmed. "The Gym Leader's Gliscor is unable to battle! Will the Gym Leader please send in his next Pokémon?" Silt returned to the field. "Continue!"

"One more Acid Armor!" Yolanda's outer shell shifted around a before solidifying not a second too soon. Silt's Iron Head connected with the Vanilluxe and sent her careening through the air. "Magnet Rise!" Yolanda steadied herself and avoided Silt's second attack by creating an electromagnetic field that lifted her higher than usually. "House Mafia: track 6!"

"Stone Wall." Silt's wall of red rock was made as soon Yolanda and her decoys had surrounded him. Rather than the Ice Beam, Roland had anticipated, the wall was being attacked by Flash Cannon. When the wall was completely destroyed, all that was left of Silt was a hole in the ground. Yolanda's decoys disappeared and, she moved away from the spot. Silt emerged shortly after and flew forward with another Iron Head. Yolanda fired an Ice Beam that hit dead on but didn't slow the Garchomp down. When he connected his head had patches of ice top of it. Yolanda quickly regained her balance and looked at her opponent. She sucked her breath and prepared to use Blizzard but stopped when Silt collapsed and released the air through the tube on her left head.

"The Gym Leader's Garchomp is unable to battle! The Gym Leader has no more able Pokémon! The victory goes to the challenger, Jazz Heterodyne!"

Jazz's shoulders relaxed in heap. She paid no attention to the referee or the screen that had her photo with the word "Victor" underneath. Slowly the smile of excitement was replaced with one of pure elation. Her eyes were locked on Yolanda.

Without thinking Jazz ran onto the crater filled battlefield and swept Yolanda into a hug ignoring her frigid body. "We did it. We won!" Yolanda responded by dusting Jazz with puffs of snow.

Bianca and Beat joined them and, Roland slowly walked towards them with smile on his face. "That's what you were up to. You kept getting me to rotate so you could get your Vanilluxe up against Pokémon that didn't resist or counter Ice types. Really should've figured it was something like. Oh, well. Rules are rules." Roland reached into his pocket pulled the green leaf shaped pin. "I hereby present you the Earth Badge. You've earned it."

Jazz took the Badge and couldn't contain the leap of joy sprang out of her. When she landed she was overcome with chuckles. "Hell yeah! One down, fifteen to go!"

"So I hate to be that guy but, you've really gotta clear the field. We made a _real_ mess and, I wanna at least clear the rocks jutting out of the ground and walls cleared out before the next trainer gets here." Roland said.

"Sure, no problem." Jazz, her Pokémon, and Bianca walked towards the elevator where Nico was waiting.

"Um, congratulations." He said as he shuffled his feet. He then held out a plastic case with the Pokémon League's insignia on it. "Here. It's a badge case. For badges."

"Oh, wow. Thanks. I was wondering what I were I gonna put these things." Jazz took the case without a second thought. "You didn't buy this just for me, did ya?"

"Well, no my parents bought it for me but, I thought about what you said yesterday and well…um…" Nico looked down at his feet again.

"Would ya relax and say it already!"

"He probably could if you didn't consider life endangering stunts and whatnot relaxing." Beat said.

"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind letting me travel with you." Nico said finally looking back up. "Maybe, you could teach me how to be a better trainer. I mean your Pokémon were doing things without commands and you had code words and I'm sorry you probably think this is…"

"Sure." Nico stopped and looked surprised. "Why the hell not? Long as you can keep up feel free to follow me all the way to Johto. Hope your bags are packed though, 'cause we're skippin' town as soon my Pokémon are healed up. I'm tryin' to be at the edge of the Viridian Forest by nightfall."

Nico almost was left in the arena before he realized that Jazz had agreed. He slid onto elevator just beating the door's closing and saw Jazz once again beaming at her Earth Badge.

 **Please review if you have time**


	4. To Catch Them

Updated 4/18/16

 **Chapter 4**

 **To Catch Them**

"Would you two wake the fuck up?" Jazz poked Bianca's face with a stick and Nico's with her boot. The sun had barely peaked over the horizon dyeing the edge of the sky a deep orange. Bianca and Nico simply turned in their sleeping bags. "Well lay there then ya pair o' bums." Jazz abandoned the task and turned to the Viridian Forest as it sprawled in front of her. Multiple signs with warnings written on them lined the edge of the forest advising trainers on how to spot Beedrill hives, what plants were poisonous, and to carry antidote and paralysis heal.

The last one sounded like common sense to Jazz but, she unconsciously dragged up an old memory of a man who didn't heed such warnings from four years previous. She'd been in Kalos at the time exploring the Santalune Forest well off the safety of the main trail. The man's only Pokémon was a knocked out Pansage and he had been hit with multiple rounds of Poison Sting. If Jazz hadn't come by and given him the antidote at Rhythm's, still a Kirlia at the time, insistence he would have likely died.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to bring Nico here." Rhythm had sensed Jazz's memory.

"Or with us at all for that matter." Beat said. "On top of the potentially the deadly forest right in front of us there's, y'know, the whole criminal organization who might very well be lurking inside waiting for us?"

"Of course I know that but, c'mon what's the worst that could happen?" Jazz said. "They sick an airship on us. We blow it up."

"Some debris fall on the kid, assuming he hasn't been stabbed in the throat already. Or stung to death by the Beedrill."

"Oh come on. You and I both know we can handle whatever Cherry Tits and her friends send our way." Jazz pointed her stick at Nico. "Besides, what do you suggest we do?"

"Leave the kid in a town somewhere. Team Rocket won't want to kill him if he's not hanging out with us." Beat answered. "Better yet just leave them both here and never run into Team Rocket again. They're after Bianca and whatever's on those hard drives, not us. Unless you're trying to get into another knife fight with Miss 'Cherry Tits' as you call her."

Jazz swung her stick across her shoulder and considered Beat's words. She then reached into her bag and pulled out an air horn. Rhythm and Beat covered their ears before Jazz blew the horn waking the other two humans up with a shock of adrenaline. Pidgey and other bird Pokémon could be seen taking flight and the buzz of bug type wings echoed from the forest. "Why did you do that?" Bianca gripped her ears in a futile attempt to block out the ringing.

"I tried to nudge ya awake. That didn't work so I had to take drastic action."

"It's only six o'clock." Nico's eyes drooped and his hand covered his mouth.

"Ya damn right it is!" Jazz said with the enthusiasm only a morning person could have. The sun was now creating a small dome of orange. "We're wastin' precious daylight sittin' 'round here. There's a gigantic ass forest between us and our next destination. Rare Pokémon that can only be found here and come out at certain times of the day that might be serious additions to our teams…"

"That you just scared off." Beat interjected.

"And what can possibly be better than walkin' through the grass with the smell of dew in your nose?"

"Sleeping in." Bianca stifled a yawn.

"That's right! Nothin'! So get your asses outta bed, pack up your shit, and let's hit the road!" Jazz tossed her stick and pulled both of them up by the feet of their sleeping bags. She shook them, flinging them both out onto the ground. Resigning to Jazz's will, Nico and Bianca put on their shoes and rolled up their sleeping bags. Looking around, they noticed that Jazz had already cleaned up their camp site with the exception their personal effects and was completely waiting on them.

When they'd finished packing and released Barb and Conifer, the three set forward into the Viridian Forest. The place was called a "natural maze" for reason. The closest thing to a trail that existed was recent paths walked by trainers to traverse it. With Pokémon scattering seeds and eating plants, the exact layout of the place was constantly in flux with only huge, long lived trees and creeks to serve as land marks. To make the area even more treacherous, the Pokémon living within were notorious for being less than friendly. Traversing major Routes without a Pokémon of your own was considered risky. To go into the Viridian Forest without a Pokémon was just called suicide. Even with Pokémon, the Forest was not to be taken lightly on account of the aforementioned dangers. The Viridian Forest was one of the many places in the world where the unspoken pact between man and Pokémon did not apply. Human were just another prey item there. For this reason, most people simply went around it via Route 2. For Pokémon trainers on the other hand, it was another prime opportunity to catch rare Pokémon.

For this reason, Jazz and Bianca were being vigilant. Not only were they watching out for Team Rocket but also for opportunistic Pokémon. Eyes and ears were on their surroundings and hands on their Pokéballs at all times.

The tension among the group made Nico nervous. He almost jumped when heard, "Hold it." from Jazz with a hand up. "Check it out." She pointed towards canopy of leaves and Nico and Bianca looked at them. Kakuna hung by treads from the tree branches and clung to trunks. Weedle crawled among tree tops and up the trunk. All of them trained their eyes on the humans and foreign Pokémon. "Beat."

"It's a small hive, only seventeen Beedrill." Beat said. "What's the plan?"

Jazz's hand fingered a Pokéball on her belt as she weighed her options. She and her team could easily win this fight if came to it but, not protect some kid with a Pokémon who was at a type disadvantage at the same time. She began backing away as the Kakuna started to shake in the trees and rest of her group followed. "We'll circle around it. Nothin' to gain by fightin' here."

Bianca and Nico nodded as they turned west and began to walk around the Beedrill's territory. The thickets only became thicker as they walked further from the hive. Occasionally a small Pokémon would wander close by then scamper off when it realized the humans were aware of its presence. Jazz's ears routinely registered the wings a Beedrill that was tailing them and kept a hand over the Pokéball. When they exited the hive's vicinity, the Beedrill returned and, the group began heading north.

Jazz breathed a sigh of relief and began keeping her eyes out for more Pokémon. For a while their trek was peaceful, a snapped twig here, a leaf crunch there, and all sorts of sounds from wild Pokémon. The light from the sun was tinted green where the leaves didn't completely block it out which made the odd Caterpie and Metapod more difficult to spot. Her eyes repeatedly scanned the trunks of trees and listened to buzzing of wings.

Soon they came to a small clearing. There, yellow trails of electricity danced wildly and singed the grass and dirt. A Pichu stood on a stump on all fours firing bolts of electricity. It was clear from the direction of the bolts and charring in clearing that the Pichu didn't have very much control over its electricity yet. "It's so cute." Bianca said. An arc hit the tree she was standing behind.

Nico stepped forward with a Pokéball in hand. Jazz shrugged and said "Be quick about it. Trust me." Nico nodded before he entered the clearing. The Pichu perked up as Nico approached and cautiously turned to face him. It let off wild sparks of yellow electricity and attempted to growl in a warning. Conifer hopped off of Nico's shoulder.

"Bullet Seed!" Conifer fired series of green energy shots that knocked the Pichu off of its stump. He and Nico ran opposite sides of the stump leaving the Pichu with only option of running into the canopy of trees. Instead of running it let loose a loud cry with shower of electricity. Nico and Conifer attempted to shield themselves from the electricity but, that was the least of their worries. Sprinting from the canopy a Pikachu, female by the tail, scooped the Pichu onto her back and ran away. Another Pikachu, male, then arrived and fired a Thunderbolt straight at Nico. The boy could feel Jazz's boot dig into his back before falling to the ground. His hair stood on end as the focused arc of electricity flew over his head and stuck the stump blasting a good chunk of it away. From the ground Nico could see the male Pikachu running away.

"That's why I told ya to be quick." Jazz pulled Nico to his feet before sitting down on the not charred part of the stump. "What ya should've done is…ah screw it. I'll show ya later." She hopped back onto her feet and continued north leaving Bianca and Nico to follow through the brush. Her eyes and ears went back to observing the Forest particularly scanning the tree trunks.

Finally Jazz stopped and placed her hand on a trunk, specifically where a series of large gouges has been taken out of the bark. "You think another hive's nearby?" Bianca asked.

"Nope, just a Pokémon I wanna add to my team." Jazz pulled map from her bag and showed it to Bianca. "Ya might as well go grab that hard drive; this might take a while. See this tree here…" Jazz pointed at one of the few land marks on the map a short ways from the river that ran through the Viridian Forest. "Meet us there before sundown so we can make camp."

"Okay, sounds like a plan." Bianca said. "Let's go, Barb." Her Emboar grunted and waved before the two set off east.

"Later. Try not to get eaten." Jazz said.

"Are you sure she'll be okay by herself?" Nico waved at Bianca who had just turned around.

"Are you kiddin' me? Bianca ain't the best trainer in the world but, she can handle herself just fine." Jazz knocked on the tree and continued, "At any rate, it's time learn the basics. Take a look at this tree." Nico looked at the trunk and noticed the gouges as well as a marking that looked like a net with the initials "MR" underneath it. "Scyther mark their territory with gashes they leave in trees. That makes 'em easier to track in forests. 'Course, bein' in a forest means they have way more places to blind side ya from so, keep your eyes peeled."

"Uh, right." Jazz, Rhythm, and Beat next walked in the direction from the opposite side of the trunk and Nico cautiously followed with hand stroking Conifer's back. Nico watched as Jazz kept walking through Forest with her eyes darting to and fro. He noticed that she was looking for something as well as keeping watch when he spotted another set of identical gouges in the bark of another. A knot formed in his stomach when he noticed that her hand had gone towards her Pokéballs. She soon swung her bag off her back and dug into it to pull out an empty Pokéball. It was different from the standard red, though. Its top was turquoise and had a black crisscross pattern. On her word a third Pokémon came out of her Pokéball: Krewella, a Delphox.

Jazz then held her hand again to signal a stop. She grabbed Nico and pulled him behind a tree. "Just stay back and watch." She stepped out from the tree and with Krewella following rather than Rhythm or Beat. There a Scyther stood in his nest and clicked its forearms together in a threat. Jazz remained still and after about five seconds, the Scyther charged. Both Jazz and Krewella stepped to the side avoid its bladed forearms which left deep slashes in the trunks where they landed. Rather than Krewella, the Scyther went after Jazz who swerved around trees to avoid the blades.

The grin on Jazz's face seemed to enrage the Pokémon. The Scyther began swinging even faster using its wing to propel itself. Jazz weaved among trees leaping and ducking away from the forearms. Her eyes were still wildly active and kept Krewella within her field of vision at all times. It wasn't long before she was pressed up against a tree. When the Scyther came at her at full speed Jazz jumped straight into the air catching one of the Scyther's blades in the tree. She bounced off its head, reached up and grabbed into a tree branch. She pulled herself up and shouted, "Flamethrower!" Krewella blew on her stick and unleashed a torrent of fire on the Scyther. When the flames died out, the Scyther was struggling to stand and desperately trying to free the blade that had been embedded in the tree. Jazz dropped the Net Ball onto the Scyther. It opened wide and enveloped the Pokémon in a white light before dragging within itself. When the Ball hit the ground, it began rocking back and forth. Finally the distinct click confirming a capture could be heard.

Jazz jumped down from the tree and picked up the Scyther's Pokéball. She and Krewella walked to Nico, Rhythm and Beat with their fresh capture and Jazz said, "Now listen up 'cause this is where shit gets complicated." She returned Krewella to her Pokéball and began walking north-east. "Before tryin' to catch a Pokémon ya always check to see what they're capable of, their habits in the wild, what kinda moves they tend to learn on their own, and how resistant they are to Pokéballs. See, some Pokémon like that Pichu from earlier can be captured just by throwing a Pokéball at it. Matter of fact ya probably could've done that with the Mankey. Had I tried that with the Scyther though, it would've failed even with a specialized ball. As for Scyther's habits, I knew that unlike to Beedrill, we could've just walked through his territory as long as we didn't approach his nest or go after any of its prey. Most people miss the markings on trees and never find the nest. Pikachu never leave their young outside of zappin' distance while Scyther are on their own a few days after they hatch. Most importantly, however, is the part where he saw _me_ as the intruder. Now, whether he likes it or not, he sees me as the alpha. That bit only matters to a few Pokémon but, it's way harder to get a solitary or pack Pokémon to follow orders if they see the Pokémon who defeated it as the alpha."

"So you _wanted_ to be attacked?" Nico said.

"Course not, I accidently almost got maimed and electrocuted today." Jazz said quizzaciously. "What I'm gettin' at is that if ya aren't willin' to take a few risks you'll miss out on the big prize and, obviously ya gotta do the right prep work so ya don't get sliced in half or somethin'."

"The guys on TV make it all seem simple."

"That's 'cause their job is to sell shit. If they mentioned the part where ya might die no one would actually buy the stuff. Part of the reason everyone doesn't just go out become a trainer is the risk involved. Hell, I've made some pretty good cash catchin' rare Pokémon for people. There's even an entire group of folks that catch bug type for the medical uses of their scales. Matter of fact, I figure we would've run into to one of by now since one of 'em had been markin' Scyther's trees."

"Hey! You two!"

"Speak of the devil…" Jazz spun and saw the bug catcher who had a Butterfree with him and clearly was not in a good mood. "Yeah, what's up?"

"I know one of you two captured that Scyther. Don't try to deny it. I saw the scorch marks."

"Yeah, what about it?" Jazz stepped forward so that only air was between herself and the bug catcher. "I'm a trainer and caught him fair and square. You got a problem with that?"

"You followed the same markings I did. Your foot prints prove it." He said. "You had to have seen my markings. Around here we've got rules, kid. That was my catch. You had to have realized that."

"Yeah, well guess what? I caught him first. It's your own fault. Deal with it."

The bug catcher sneered. "Oh I'll deal with it alright. You've only got six Pokémon on you. Five since Scyther couldn't have been healed yet. I on the other hand have fifteen. On top of that if I spread the word, every bug catcher will be on you. So here's the ultimatum, hand over the Scyther and you walk away. Refuse and I leave you no Pokémon who can fight. It's as simple as that."

Jazz shuddered and held her hand to her mouth. She then broke into laughter. It wasn't the same happy laugh from her previous day's victory or her usually mocking laughter either. The smile that accompanied this laugh gave Nico pause and made him step back. The echo of the laugh bounced of the trees and replayed itself against Jazz's voice. He turned and noticed a wild Rattata running away. "He's really done it now." Beat said.

"What's so funny, huh!?" The bug catcher asked.

When Jazz calmed down the smile on her face remained wide enough to show most of her teeth. Her red eyes had a glare to them that caused the bug catcher to step back. His Butterfree hid behind its trainer. "Sorry 'bout that. It's just that ya sounded a lot like my dad for a second. Course, he had the balls and the power to back it up and more importantly finish the job himself. Comin' from you? Nah. Just an empty threat." She then pulled out her knife and pointed it at him. The bug catcher went pale. "So tell me somethin': How many of your Pokémon do ya think it'll take to bring down one o' mine. That Butterfree obviously ain't a real battler and ya wouldn't've made that threat with him out if ya had any strong Pokémon."

Jazz took a quick step forward and the bug catcher stumbled back shielding himself. Jazz laughed again. "Alright. Now that we've established the peckin' order I recommend you gettin' lost. And if any of your friends come at my head…well, it's on _you_ pal." For a moment the bug catcher stammered. He finally made his exit but not before flipping Jazz off. "What an asshole. Am I right? Course I am. This is more of a general life tip. Don't let your mouth write checks the rest o' ya can't cash."

"You threatened him and his friends though." Nico forced himself to point this out through Jazz's casual snap back to her usual self.

"After he threatened us." Rhythm said. "It would've been self-defense. If he'd really been prepared to fight he wouldn't have only had that Butterfree."

"That doesn't mean we should go around letting random people call their friends on their home turf." Beat said.

"Home turf? C'mon, Beat. Forests like this one change every freakin' day. Even the people who hang out in 'em can only keep up with a few major landmarks. Like when we went through the Eterna Forest in Sinnoh and found a bug catcher who'd been lost for three days because his compass broke."

"That same complexity makes it more difficult track people even with Aura sight. There's no telling how many of his buddies are running around."

Jazz slumped her shoulders and sighed. "Alright, alright. I'll avoid antagonizin' people. Geez. Let's just get to the damn campsite already before someone else tries to start somethin' and I have to scare them off."

Once they'd checked their map and compass, they were on their way again. Nico then asked Beat, "Does Jazz always do stuff like that."

"What? Charging head first into danger with little to no regard for her own safety? You'd better get used to that if you plan on sticking around." Beat said.

"Um, actually I was talking about the pulling the knife out on people and laughing like a super villain."

"Oh. That. Um, not regularly. Only when she wants to scare someone. Frankly, I wanted to just blast the guy and zip tie him. Let nature take its course from there."

"That seems a bit harsh."

Beat folded her arms and shrugged. "Well that's the difference between a fight and battle. Even without trainers we'll battle for pride. A fight on the other hand is for resources, territory, or our lives. Matter of fact that's about the only reason Pokémon battle with trainers to begin with. We take just as much pride in our victories as you. Our situation with Jazz is a bit different but, that's another conversation entirely."

The next five hours were relatively quiet. A few encounters with angry bug types and easy victory against another bug-catcher were two of the three highlights. The third was spotting of another Pichu. Taking Jazz's advice, Nico simply threw a Pokéball rather than battle it properly. It clicked shut almost immediately.

When they reached the tree that marked campsite Jazz's first line was, "Holy shit." The tree, named the Viridian Pillar, towered over them rising hundreds of feet into air. It was an evergreen tree and its branches fanned out from its massive trunk shading the area around it constantly. The only plants that grew were small shoots and grasses as any trees would be deprived of sunlight. The remains of campfires were strewn among the ground. A sign post warning to make sure that any campfires made were out had been erected.

"Alright, short stuff, now that you've managed to catch yourself a Pokémon here comes the part that rookies tend to skip and get hurt as a result." Jazz took Scyther's Pokéball from her belt and released him a short distance away. Unsurprisingly, he was tense and had his eyes dead on Jazz. "This is normal." Jazz reached into her bag and pulled out a Full Restore. She approached slowly with the Full Restore in one hand and the Net Ball in the other. She made her way to the Scyther's back where she began to apply the Full Restore. At first Scyther winced but soon relaxed himself. When Jazz finished, she pulled out a Poké Puff and held it up to her Scyther. With her other hand she pointed to herself. "I'm Jazz and from now on your name's Impala." He looked the treat and sniffed before taking it into his mouth. Jazz slowly moved her hand to the top of Impala's crest. She stroked it for a moment before stepping back.

"Alright, you three. Get out here." The three Pokéballs opened themselves and Krewella, a Drapion named Stirling, and a Tyrantrum named Giacchino appeared under the Viridian Pillar's leaves. "This here's our new teammate, Impala. Make with the friends. I've got a chore to take care of." While her Pokémon were having their meet and greet, Jazz pulled a small collapsible stand, aluminum foil, and three cans spray paint from her bag. She set up the stand and covered the lower half of the Net Ball in foil. After the first shaking the can and pulling up her bandana, she sprayed a coat of base onto the top half.

"Is that legal?" Nico asked.

"Well, there's nothin' in the League rules _against_ it. Most people transfer their Pokémon to basic Pokéballs anyway they aren't telegraphin' their next switch. I'm just bein' thrifty." Jazz said.

"Travelling doesn't make you very much money does it?" Nico noted.

"Nope. I get by though. Catch rare Pokémon for rich people, few money matches, nab a few bad guys here and there, it's pretty fun if you're good at it. Reason lots a people don't get very far is because they can't deal the financial side of things. The only reason most people even attempt the Elite Four challenge after they win their regional tournament is to attract sponsors."

"So you're trying to go pro?"

"No shit, Sherlock." Jazz pulled down her bandana and let the base begin to dry. "You think we spent seven years workin' our asses off to not go pro? Competin' at opens, battlin' trainers from all over the damn world, havin' women swarm over me, sounds like the life if ya ask men. I mean seriously. Red has got to be drownin' in pussy." Jazz paused for moment when she realized she was speaking with an eleven-year-old. "But, yeah I wanna do this for the rest my life and get with as many women as I can. So what about you? What's your goal and why the hell'd ya come all the way to the Kanto region for your journey?"

"Hm, well I guess it was either become a Pokémon trainer or go to a private school in Lilycove." Nico admitted. "And I'd already seen most of the Hoenn region with my family so there was no point in traveling there."

"So, your folks are rich, huh?"

"Yeah, actually." Nico said. "My dad owns a shipping company based in Slateport. Pretty much all the exports from the Hoenn region go through it. He's even been trying to set up shop here in Kanto recently."

"Great. So if you get killed, that's another person who doesn't want me set foot in Hoenn." Jazz now finding the base coat to satisfactorily dry, began her application of the first red coat.

"Should I ask who the first is?"

"Norman. But that's a story for another day." Jazz said as she diligently made the coat even. "Say, you gonna let that Pichu out anytime soon? It's best to get her used to ya while you're still in the Forest."

"I guess you, right." Nico reached for Pichu's Pokéball before asking, "How do you know Pichu's a girl."

"How do trainers know what their Pokémon are sayin' without understandin' their language?" Jazz asked. "The answer is 'fuck if I know'."

"Right…" Nico walked away to another spot under the canopy created by the Viridian Pillar. He motioned for Conifer to hop off of his shoulder. After being let out, Pichu looked around her environment in astonishment. Her ears and nose twitched before establishing the fact that she was still in Viridian Forest. She looked up at Nico who then bent down and held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Nico." The Pichu responded by sniffing his hand. She then tilted her head before rolling onto to her side. Unsure how to respond, Nico tilted his own head while saying, "Um…" He decided the best course of action would be to pet her. He slowly moved his hand forward, and set three fingers on the Pichu's head. He gently scratched her soliciting what he could only describe as giggles. Her cheeks suddenly began sparking with electricity that was discharged and sent directly up Nico's arm.

The stunned Nico lurched back before falling onto his side. Both Conifer and Pichu walked over to Nico's face. Conifer poked his on end hair while Pichu licked his nose. "Ow…" He said and pulled himself back up. Nico took out his Pokédex and looked up the yellow rodent who had taken a liking to Conifer's tail.

"Pichu: the tiny mouse Pokémon." He read aloud. "Electric type…evolves into Pikachu…um, may send out jolts of electricity if startled or amused." The sparks kept flying from Pichu's cheek when Conifer gently flipped her confirmed the Pokédex. "I guess you really won't be able to battle until you get better control, huh." When Conifer flipped her again, Nico caught her out of the air. Pichu looked at him for a moment before he said, "Fuse. Your name's Fuse." She tilted head before scampering up Nico's arm and onto his head. Conifer leapt onto his shoulder.

Nico walked back over to where Jazz was spray painting and saw Bianca who was now marveling over her work. "Wow, Jazz. You can hardly tell the difference even close up. How'd you get so good at that?"

"What can I say?" Jazz tossed the ball into the air and caught it with the same hand. "Practice makes perfect."

"And look at you." Bianca said looking at Fuse. "How's it feel to catch your first Pokémon."

"It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be." Nico admitted. "Seemed like part of the process. Watching Jazz catch Impala was way more exciting."

"She didn't try to fight with her knife did she?"

"Well, she didn't use her knife…for the Scyther at least."

Jazz then stepped in front of Bianca and said with a twitch in her eye, "Hey, why don't you take the Pichu and go mingle with the other Pokémon? Get her used it."

Nico could tell from the look on both of their faces that it'd be best to do as Jazz said. He walked over to the Pokémon who had formed a circle to observe a contest of strength between Barb and Giacchino. The two Pokémon were pushing against each other, Giacchino with his head and Barb with her arms, to force the other out of circle in the dirt. The Pokémon watching cheered and casually moved when Nico tried to get a spot. Fuse in particular got very loud for her size. Her entire body crackled with electricity and, the match came to halt when Nico was shocked again.

 **Please review if you have time**


	5. Blow a Kiss

Updated 4/18/16

 **Chapter 5**

 **Blow a Kiss**

What woke Bianca that morning wasn't one of Jazz's absurdities or noises. No sitting on her chest or sounding off an air horn. It was a simple, powerful slap across the face. "What the hell!?" Bianca's hand went to her cheek as Jazz ran to wake Nico in similar fashion. She responded by putting her finger to her lips. For the first time Bianca noticed just how impressive Jazz's arms were seeing as she wasn't wearing her jacket. Her hair was down for once and her goggles hung around her neck with her bandana revealing the significant length of her dreads. Bianca looked around and realized that the only light was coming from a lantern set on ground.

"No time. Team Rocket showed up. They're gonna have this forest covered in a few hours with their numbers." Jazz threw on her jacket and Pokéball belt. "Before you ask, fuck if know why they're here, but without Tiësto we've got no way to jam their radio's or lock down their Pokéballs. Be ready to fight you two."

Bianca and Nico both began scrambling to get their things in order. Within minutes their campsite was cleaned and Conifer and Drema were out. The sound of chatter alerted Jazz, Rhythm, and Beat to another's person presence. "In the tree." Jazz hopped up and pulled herself into the Viridian Pillar's branches. The others followed though Jazz had to pull Nico and Bianca up. They climbed higher to hide within the pine needles. From her vantage point in the branches, Jazz observed as the Rockets approached. A grin stretched across her face when she saw squad four, led by Raoul enter, the canopy. This time each of them had a Pokémon out and ready: with Raoul was a Mawile named Christine, Sally's Cloyster named Lockstock, Logainne had Coneybear her Exeggutor, Roger was Mark's Aggron, Jonny's Cofagrigus was named Jake, and Tony's Pokémon was Riff the Togetic.

"Oh my God," Sally was yawning. "Why did we have to do crappy jobs back to back? Not only are we up before the crack o' dawn but, we're in this hellhole on top of that? All for a goddamned computer. Ain't they got someone else to do this?"

"It can't be helped." Raoul said. "These orders apparently came straight from an executive. Even if Billie didn't want to do it she had no say in the matter. Still, if Attila and Hun are involved, it's likely that there's a legendary Pokémon involved."

"Also known as a Pokémon that could tear me limb from limb if they were so inclined." Sally said. "Great."

"Hey guys. Check this out." Jonny said. His flashlight light shone on the spot where their campfire and sleeping bags had been. "Looks like they got outta here in a hurry."

"There are even foot prints in the grass." Mark said with his flashlight illuminating them. "That's weird. They all lead back to…" Receiving Jazz's boots in the back of the head cut him off. Rather than bounce off, she rode his head to the ground. A Pokéball was thrown that hit Jonny in the face along with another that hit Sally.

"Oh my God! Why is _she_ here?" Logainne jumped behind Coneybear and trembled as a Tyrantrum stood over Jonny and a Drapion pinned Sally to tree. "Coneybear! Psychic on the Tyrantrum!" The Exeggutor fired its attack and pushed Giacchino backed. When Jake and Roger attempted to attack, Giacchino's Dragon Tail sent them right back into their Pokéballs. Giacchino then turned his sights on Coneybear. "Oh dear…um, Seed Bomb!" Three rounds were fired. The first two hit but, were completely ignored by the Tyrantrum. The third was caught in a set of blazing teeth and crushed. "Oh God…"

Logainne pulled Coneybear back into his Pokéball and turned to make a break for it. Before she started running, Giacchino was intercepted by Christine. The Mawile's body was glowing pink as she delivered successive strikes to the Tyrantrum. Her attack was disrupted the instant she got too close to the jaws and was snatched up by Fire Fang. Giacchino shook her around before chucking her into Riff who was attempting to use Brick Break. When the two bounced of off each other Giacchino rammed into them with Iron Head. They crashed into the Pillar and slumped over before being withdrawn.

"Oh fuck this!" Tony said. "Indio, Diesel, Anita, and Mouthpiece! Get out here and kick some ass!" A Drifblim, Skarmory, Mantine, and Xatu came out and formed a line in front of Giacchino. The Xatu, Mouthpiece, was immediately knocked out of the air by an unconscious Lockstock being used as a missile. Stirling followed right up with Night Slash putting the Xatu down for the count. Not to be outdone, Giacchino charged at the line of Flying types with his mouth crackling in electricity. He snatched the Mantine, Anita, out of the air and ran past Tony with her in his mouth. Tony fell back with his mouth open as Anita was tossed into his Skarmory. Diesel was shocked by residual charge and Anita was unmoving on the ground. A Stone Edge from Beat finished off Indio and Diesel "Oh crap…" Tony said. He pulled Anita, Indio, and Mouthpiece back into their Pokéballs. He then attempted to find a way to escape but, Rhythm was waiting with Hypnosis.

Jonny, his Mismagius Toffee, and his Dusclops Eddie were all ready to pounce on Rhythm from behind but, she caught all three of them with Psychic. Rhythm turned around and fired two Shadow Balls at the Pokémon while their trainer was knocked to the ground. Jonny scrambled backwards and switched his Pokémon. "Candy, use Shadow Punch!" Jonny's Golurk emerged and threw its shadow covered fist forward. The shadows vanished and reappeared to Rhythm's left in the shape of fist and were blocked by a Protect. Rhythm then teleported and let Candy be struck by a Hydro Pump from Sally's Lapras, Hope. "Are you kidding me? The last thing we need right now to be kicking each other's asses!" Pokéball

"You don't think I know that?" Sally wouldn't stop turning her head as the frenetic battle continued around her. "You try keeping up with all this!" Sally eyes opened wide as Hope was hit by a Thunderbolt. The Lapras's head slumped to ground revealing Rhythm standing behind her.

"Might I recommend giving up?" Rhythm projected her words into Sally and Jonny's mind. "This fight is pointless."

"Get outta my head!" Sally withdrew Hope and sent out a Crawdaunt and a Sharpedo. Rhythm simply sighed and fired a Dazzling Gleam at them taking out Sally's Pokémon and Candy with the attack. Sally and Jonny were both hit and knocked unconsciousness.

"That's right! It's Heterodyne!" Raoul shouted into the squad's radio. He withdrew his Azumarill, Erik, who had just pelted by Poison Stings while saying, "We need backup! Now!"

"Is Bianca Genovese with her?" Billie said through the radio.

"I don't know! It isn't gonna matter at this…"

"Spinzaku!" Jazz's boot flew across Raoul's face knocking his hat off and the radio to the ground. Before Raoul could stand, he was kicked in the back of the head.

"Panch! Hi Jump Kick!" Logainne's Medicham jump into the air and prepared to kick Jazz. He was intercepted by a Moonblast the explosion of which illuminated the entire canopy of the Viridian Pillar with pink light. Logainne pulled Panch into his Pokéball and shrieked when she saw Jazz charging at her. Jazz stumbled and stopped when she was hit in the back by Pokéball.

"Nuzzle! Now!" Raoul's mouth was bloody at this point which gave Philippe the Dedenne more this enough motivation to attack at full strength. Jazz dropped to the ground and let the Dedenne fly over her head. She then lashed her arms out and dragged Logainne down with her. Logainne at this point had her hands on three Pokéballs all which were opened as she fell. Coneybear, a Duosion, and a Swoobat were released. Jazz was now straddling Logainne and, Philippe had turned to begin a second pass with Nuzzle. He was thwarted when Stirling delivered a Poison Jab.

Jazz ducked down and pressed herself against Logainne. Logainne's squeak was turned into a scream as Giacchino's tail swung over them and knocked her Pokémon back into their Pokéballs. "What did ya think I was doin'?" Jazz leveled her own face and Logainne's, "Course, I wouldn't be opposed to what you were thinkin'."

Logainne's blushing went ignored as Jazz flipped off of her to avoid the joint Dazzling Gleam of Raoul's Clefairy and Whimsicott. The attack flew over Logainne and hit the Viridian Pillar which had sustained minor damage. Beat took out the Whimsicott with Blaze Kick while Stirling used Poison Jab on the Clefairy. "Damn it." Raoul was shaking on his feet. He looked around and saw that his squad was completely defeated except for Mark who was now standing back up. He sent out five Pokémon: Roger, a Forretress, a Magnezone, a Klinklang, and a Bisharp. The ground beneath them exploded as soon they materialized engulfing them in fire. Krewella was illuminated by the flames.

Raoul considered his moves. Jazz's Tyrantrum was right next to her preventing an attack from him. Sally, Tony, and Jonny were all unconscious. Logainne was trembling in the fetal position. Mark was undoubtedly concussed. Jazz's other Pokémon had them surrounded. He put his hands up. "Alright, you win."

"Damn right I do." Jazz said. "Hey, one of you toss down my bag. Stay in the tree. Beat stay on look out. Some of them are probably haulin' ass over here." Jazz's request was granted and her bag fell down in front of her. Using its contents she zip tied squad four by their hands and feet, then gagged and blindfolded them using what was left of Kidd's pants. After looting their bags for more zip ties and six knives, she picked up the radio and pressed the call button. "Cherry Tits, you got minute?"

After a moment of quiet the radio spoke. "This is your only chance, Heterodyne. Hand over Genovese and the hard drives and you walk away."

"Now me 'n' you know that's not how this is gonna go down. I hand 'em over and you me knife in the back or some shit. So I'm thinkin' we just hunker down here until you decide to show your pretty face. You're about the only one in this Forest that's worth a damn from what I can see."

"You and I both know that even if you were to stay at the Viridian Pillar, I wouldn't just walk into a trap. So it seems we've reached an impasse."

"That is does." Jazz lifted her thumb. "You two can get down now."

Nico, Bianca, and their Pokémon came down the tree branches and held the same expression on their faces: eyes wide and mouths moving with no words coming out. Jazz withdrew all her Pokémon except Rhythm and Beat and motioned for them to follow her north. By this point dawn had cracked. Finally Nico said, "What's going on?"

"Simple, Team Rocket's in the Forest. They want Bianca alive and me dead." Jazz answered curtly while pulling her hair into a ponytail. "I thought that was being made painfully obvious."

"I can see that. I meant why."

"They wanna kidnap Bianca so, she can tell 'em how to find those hard drives and, I got in their way. C'mon, short stuff, keep up." Jazz didn't bother stopping or giving details and simply pushed her way forward. "Hey, what do you guys make of them talking about legendary Pokémon?"

"I don't know what it means." Bianca said. "But what matters is that we get out of here safely. So let's try to avoid any more fights."

"Are you kidding me?" Jazz said. "They've got this place on lock down. And now that they know we're here, they'll be makin' sure we can't leave. We need to take as many out as we can. We play our cards right and we can wipe them all out by sundown."

"Are you insane? This time they'll know you're coming for them. And like you said you can't jam their radios or Pokéballs. We're completely outnumbered. Beat, back me up here."

Beat folded her arms. "First of all, Jazz, I told you so. Secondly I agree with Bianca in that running away would be the best option but, as Jazz said there's no way to escape without being spotted."

"If we try to fight our out, they'll surround us eventually." Rhythm said. "We won't be able to fight against those numbers. Plus there's no telling how powerful their Pokémon are."

"So what if we called for help." Nico held up his PokéNav. "It has built in phone. We can just call the Pokémon Rangers on Route 2 and they'll come help us."

"I already tried my X-transceiver during the fight." Bianca said. "I couldn't get a signal."

"Same for my Pokégear. Too many Pokémon and too many trees for a long range signal." Jazz pulled out her map. "Still, that Pokémon Ranger bit gives me an idea. Team Rocket doesn't know about you yet so they're not gonna be lookin' for ya. We're not too far from the eastern edge. It's about a two hour hike. From there the Ranger station's a hop, skip, and a jump."

"No! No way are we sending a kid in the _Viridian Forest_ filled with criminals to go get help!" Bianca was now in Jazz's face.

"Just hear me out for second. Billie's in charge not that other moron. She's not gonna waste resources on a hunch. As long as Nico lays low, they've got no reason go after him. You can read a map, right?" Nico nodded and had a map shoved in his face.

"There's gotta be another way."

"Look, our other options are fight our way out, try to sneak out then fight the rest of way with guys coming at from behind or, burn the forest own and blame the Rockets. Take your pick."

"But what if…"

"While he's headed to get help, we'll be ambushing a few them in the opposite direction." Rhythm said. "I think that should cover your concerns about the Rockets."

"But the Forest…"

"I'm a Pokémon trainer too, y'know. If I can't deal with a few risks then how am I supposed to get stronger, huh?"

Bianca began to speak but didn't. She then pulled a crumpled up receipt out of her pocket and handed it to Nico. "Alright. Just be careful and avoid wild Pokémon. Call this number when you get to the rangers station."

"I will." Nico turned and began to walk east but stopped. "You weren't actually thinking about burning down the forest, were you?"

"Norman isn't bein' completely unreasonable about hatin' my guts." Nico nodded and walked away.

-#-

"Well now what?" Hun leaned on the table and looked at Billie. She had been staring at the radio since her conversation with Jazz. "I say we hunt her down before she can cause any more damage."

"Let's not be hasty." Billie said. "We can't be sure she lacks her signal jamming right now. On top of that Raoul and his group were the only ones that stood even a remote chance of beating her on their own. If we try to face her head on, our numbers will be too exhausted for your plan of capturing Virizion."

"Unless we take care of her ourselves." Attila said. "But that might be what she wants. Lure us out and send the unit into disarray."

"Precisely. But I can still command without a team of able Pokémon assuming she wins. That's why I'm putting myself on the line." Billie tapped her radio against her table. She then pushed the call button. "Heterodyne. This is your last chance. Twenty-kilometers the southwest of the Viridian Pillar is a pond. I'm sure can make your way there without any trouble. Bring Genovese hand her over, and we go our separate ways. If you aren't there, we burn the whole forest down. Simple as that."

"C'mon, Cherry Tits, you gotta have a bluff better than that." Jazz said. "You burn the forest you risk burnin' up that legendary Pokémon your buddy Hun's after."

"True, but I can't say the same about Pyrite Town." The radio was silent for a moment. "The pond. Four hours. Or Pyrite is destroyed."

"How the hell did she find out that we're here?" Hun's hand slammed into the table.

"She probably heard it from one of Raoul's guys." Attila said

"It doesn't matter." Billie released Apollo. "What matters is how we deal with it."

"Your whole plan hinges on her believing that you'll destroy her hometown." Attila said. "You don't think she'll believe that, do you?"

"Doesn't matter. I watched her battle in Battle Frontier. She attacked me for no discernible reason during our first encounter. She'll come no matter what her better judgment says. Genovese will likely not be far away. That's the part that matters."

"Oh I get it." Hun smiled. "The grunts grab the girl while she's distracted and, if you lose, me and Attila finish Heterodyne off. That work for you, Attila."

"Yeah, sounds a plan to me assuming she doesn't see through it."

"It's like I said. She'll ignore her better judgment." Billie said.

-#-

"This is so a trap." Bianca said. "This is clearly a trap. Obvious trap is obvious."

"So's Nico if you throw a wig on him but, you don't see me runnin' away from him." Jazz responded.

"Bianca, I think you're over reacting." Rhythm said. "We've dealt with people like this before. It's a basic distract and grab. Team Snagem did it all the time and, their all dead now. We've got this."

"That's what White said when she went looking for N. It's been three years since I saw her."

"White? This chick's name is White?" Jazz chuckled. "That's like if my parents looked at me when I was born and said, 'well our daughter's black like us so I guess we'll name her Black.' Seriously, why would someone name their kid a color?"

"Says someone named Jazz who idolizes a person named Red." Beat said. "But back to the matter at hand. Billie is a threat. We can't go at this half-cocked."

"I thought you were on the 'not fight' side."

"Not quite." Beat folded her arms. "I'm on the 'don't charge in like an angry Tauros' side. Only reason I was against you tagging along was because we didn't know the full scale of what we were up against. Now that I do, I think it's a worthwhile endeavor to put Rocket down. I'm still opposed to bringing Nico along for the ride to be clear. But right now, it's either we run away or we take the offensive. I say we take full advantage of Billie's little challenge."

"See! That's what I like to hear! We've got four hours to prepare. I say we gear up and give her hell."

"People like you really do live for excitement, huh?" Bianca said.

"Damn straight! Why else would I've become a Pokémon trainer if I didn't?"

"Good question." Bianca said. "So what's the plan? We know they're after us. They want me alive. They want you… out of the picture. How do we use that to our advantage?"

"Meh, no use over thinkin' things like this." Jazz began to walk southwest. "I keep Billie on me. You fight through the grunts. By the time all's said and done the Rangers'll be swarmin' this place."

"That's not a plan." Beat said.

-#-

Nico's pace had gone from a slow to a brisk walk. He'd attempted to, like Jazz, scan his surroundings with keen awareness. All he'd accomplished was making himself painfully nervous. He finally started noticing things Jazz had. The buzzing of Bug types rang in his ears, though he could not identify what sound belonged to what Pokémon. Scratches on the trees on the trees only made him more nervous. He couldn't tell if they were a Pokémon marking their territory or another bug catcher.

"How do they do it?" Nico was scratching Conifer's head and almost tripped on a tree root. He then looked forward and saw a group of six Rockets walking towards him. The first idea he had was to find a tree climb but changed his mind when the heard the snapping of tree branches from above. Conifer began to stir on his shoulder while Nico ducked behind a tree.

Before Apollo came to a complete landing, Billie slid off of his back. "Change in plans. You all are to meet at the south side of the pond in three hours."

"Oh sweet!" One of the grunts said. "Front row seats to your showdown, right?"

"I swear to God, Slowpoke are quicker than you." Billie muttered under her breath and pinched her brow. "You will surround the pond and make sure Bianca Genovese doesn't escape during the fight. Simple enough?"

"Hell yeah! You got it, boss!" The squad leader said.

"Just leave it to us, Cher…"

"Finish that sentence and you die where you stand!" Billie climbed back onto Apollo. "Take my advice, kid. Find some good subordinates and keep them by your side at all times. Let's go." Apollo took flight and left the grunts to their own devices.

"Who was she talking to?" One grunt asked. Nico had climbed up a tree and watched as the grunts passed underneath.

"Me obviously." The squad leader said. "She knows I'm going places in this gang. Why else she have made me squad leader." He hoisted his radio into the air. "Soon I'll have a unit all to myself. Bitches'll be like, 'Damn, Josh. You a real gangster.' And I'll be like, 'Damn right I am. Now let's see dem titties.' Hey, what do think Cherry Tits titties look like?"

"Oh man and that ass. I would tap that in a second." The grunt was too busy looking at his friends to notice the Whirlipede and stubbed his toe on it. The others laughed at him. "The fuck! You piece of shit!" He then kicked the Whirlipede on purpose. It responded by spinning on the ground before launching itself at the grunt. After bouncing off of his chest and breaking his ribs, the Whirlipede showered the Rockets with a barrage of Poison Sting. The Rockets dropped and the Whirlipede rolled away.

Nico climbed out of the tree and looked at the Rockets. "Just don't stand there, kid." Josh's voice was strained. A spot on his neck where one of the stings landed had turned purple. "Help us." Nico ignored him and ran east.

-#-

By the time Billie had arrived at the Viridian Pillar, squad four had managed to free themselves from the zip ties. She handed them revives for their Pokémon and sat down against the Pillar. Logainne was desperately brushing her teeth. "Somebody help us." Josh moaned through the radio.

"So much for them." Raoul let Christine out and scratched her head. "What's the plan? I doubt we actually damaged her Pokémon in any significant way."

"Yeah, no kidding." Tony said. "She destroyed us."

"It's multi-pronged attack. Sally, you and your Pokémon will be waiting on standby in the pond. Tony, you'll be in the air. If things go south, you two know what to do. The rest of you will be the guiding the other squads searching for Genovese in the surrounding area. Understood?"

"Yeah but, quick question." Sally said. "Why not just have us of all attack at once. With you around that should actually work this time."

Billie smiled and said, "Now where's the fun in that? And Logainne why are you brushing your teeth?"

"She used the crotch."

"Oh my God…we are literally dying right now." Josh groaned.

"Fuck you, man! They're ambushin' us!" The sound of fist meeting a face ended the radio call.

"We need to gather up the others before they get attacked too." Billie handed Raoul a map with the locations of the squads. "Send everyone to the south side of the pond and to avoid the northern area." She pressed the call button on her radio. "This is a reminder from your unit commander not antagonize the wild Pokémon. Unless you want to end up like Josh. Who is dying."

"Why..." Josh said.

"What the fuck did he do? Throw rocks at a Beedrill hive?" Jazz said

"Something equally foolish I'm sure." Billie said.

"Fuck you both. Why is it so cold?"

"That's your nervous system slowly shuttin' down." The sound of kick came from the radio. "Pokémon can flush it out of their systems after a while. Humans are kinda on the fucked end of the spectrum. Right about now ya should be feelin' your body go numb."

The radio was silent before Billie said, "And, Josh, before you lose consciousness just know that you're a moron." She lifted her thumb and listened to the pleas of the squad that Jazz was attacking before the silence. "Current record of survival: four minutes, eleven seconds."

"Held by us obviously." Tony said.

"Held by _me_. Of course seeing as I retreated…"

"Alright we get it. No need to brag." Jonny began bowing. "Billie reigns supreme. All hail Billie. Please bend me over and fuck me in the anus with your eight inch strap-on to remind me of your domi..."

Jonny stopped when Billie's hand was around his throat. "Do. Not. Tempt me." A rapid nodding prompted Billie to relinquish her grip. Apollo growl and rolled his eyes. "I told you time and time again. It only works as a threat if they wouldn't enjoy it." Apollo grunted again and Billie put her thumb to her chin. "I actually hadn't thought about that. It'd be nice to actually get some use out of that thing."

"Just going to ignore that and go do my job." Raoul said as he walked away with Christine who had her hands over her ears. "I know we're weird, Christine."

"As for the rest of you, Tony, fly them to the pond."

"You got it, boss. Anything else before we go?"

"No. That's all." Billie climbed onto Apollo's and said, "Just watch out for lightning bolts," before taking off.

-#-

At the eastern edge of the Viridian Forest, Nico walked forward into the morning sun. He yawned but, didn't slow his pace until he was a good fifty yards from the forest. He pulled out the map and compass and checked them to find that he was a mile west of main path. He then pulled out his PokéNav and tried the phone only to find himself without a signal. The map told him that the ranger's station was roughly a straight shot east if he was reading the landmarks right.

Another half an hour of walking led him to ranger's station. It was small wooden shack with cables on the side that went underground. He didn't bother knocking at first but found that the door was locked. He knocked but, didn't get a response. He moved to the side of the shack and tried to look in through a window but, the curtains were closed. He tried knocking again with the same response. Nico looked up saw that one of the upstairs windows was open. "Hey see if you get up there and get their attention." Conifer leapt off of Nico's shoulder and climbed up the shack and into the window. In thirty seconds he climbed back out and jumped down to Nico's shoulder then right to the ground. He tugged on Nico's shorts and dragged him around the corner. Nico peaked around and saw a Team Rocket grunt poking his head out of the window.

Nico waited until the Rocket put his head back in before he began running north with Conifer right by his side. He pulled looked at his PokéNav and saw he still had no signal. Without looking up Nico kept running and hoping for a signal. In spite of his Treeko's vocalizations he kept running until he hit a rock. His PokéNav was dropped and his head was hurting. He looked up and realized he hadn't hit a rock but a Pokémon that was made of them. "You alright down there?" A male said from atop the Onix. "Let me down, Sky." The Onix complied and lowered its head letting the bronze skinned wearing cargo pants and an orange V-neck shirt man down.

"You're Brock." Nico said rubbing head.

"In the flesh." Brock held his hand out and pulled Nico to his feet. "You okay kid? You seem kinda flustered."

"No! My friends they're in the forest and they're in serious trouble!"

Brock pointed south. "The ranger's station is about a ten minute walk that way. They're the people you wanna talk to. What happened anyway?"

"But Team Rocket already got to the station!" Brock's expression went from calm to serious in a blink.

"Tell me everything." Nico did. "You're friend sounds like a reckless idiot. Billie's known in Team Rocket as being a ruthless sociopath almost as bad Nicolas Lawson was. If Jazz encountered her before she should've known that much."

"She's that bad?"

"Well, it's probably an exaggeration but, she's still bad news." Brock and Nico approached the back of the ranger's station. "No time to be subtle. Cover your ears. Sky Eater, Screech!" Sky Eater bellowed with deep roar that was focused into a wave. The station shook and window's facing the Onix shattered. Two Rockets barged outside Pokéballs ready and stopped when they saw and realized they were face to face with what was known the world's strongest Onix. That made them drop their Pokéballs and put their hands in the air. "Some things just don't change."

Brock walked into the station and freed the four rangers who had been tied up in the station's kitchenette. Nico then once again explained what happening in the Viridian Forest. One of rangers immediately put a call through to Viridian City with their landline.

Brock stepped outside and Nico followed. "You'd better stay here, Nico. I'm going into forest. By the time the police arrive with back-up their little showdown will have already happened. I'm going to stop it."

"I'm coming with you!"

"Yeah, no. This fight's way out of your league. Matter of fact, you shouldn't have been involved in any way whatsoever. I'll be having a word with those two about that as well." Brock stopped for a moment and relaxed his face. "Look. I know staying here might not sound like helpful but, trust me. It's better for everyone if you're here where Team Rocket can't get to you."

"I thought Pokémon journeys were about taking risks and having adventures."

"They are. But, there's a fine line between an adventurer and a suicidal maniac. I'm gonna see if your friend knows where that line is." Brock climbed onto Sky Eater's back. "Alright, you know where the pond is?" The Onix nodded. "Then tunnel there." Sky Eater lurched upward to his full height then lunged back down. It seemed like Sky Eater had been sucked into the ground. The dust was kicked up rained on Nico. Nico spit out some dirt and walked back into the station. Conifer then crawled his way down his torso and pulled a receipt out of his pocket.

 **Please review if you have the time.**


	6. Fire a Gun

Updated 4/18/16

 **Chapter 6**

 **Fire a Gun**

"I still say this is insane." Bianca said. She and Jazz were behind one of the trees that surrounded the clearing around the pond. Pokémon, mostly those of the Poliwag line, would occasionally poke their heads out of the water. Jazz positioned her head to look out onto the clearing. Billie stood with Apollo by her side and her arms folded. A few charred Poliwrath were unconscious next to them.

"You had four hours to come up with a better plan." Jazz said. "Beat, what are their numbers like?"

"At least fifty humans." Beat said from behind another tree. "And our friends from this morning are back up, too. One of them's hiding in the lake. But there's something else nearby. It isn't hostile for now."

"Not the first time the odds have been against us. Ain't gonna be the last." Jazz said. "Now let's get this show on the road." Jazz, Rhythm, Beat, Bianca, and Barb stepped out into the clearing. Billie didn't move save for slight tilt in her head. "Sup, Cherry Tits? You didn't have to wait too long, did ya?"

"Cut the crap." Billie said. "Hand over Genovese then leave." Jazz smiled with her eyes wide and teeth visible. She grabbed three Pokéballs from her belt and released Giacchino, Stirling, and Krewella. Her Keystone glowed and reacted to both Rhythm and Beat Mega stones. "You really are insane!"

"Look who's catchin' on!" Billie released her other five Pokémon. Along with Hades and Persephone were a Metagross, a Hydreigon, and an Empoleon. Bianca followed releasing Noland and Drema. "Bianca, you know what to do. As for the six of us, it's show time!"

Billie had already Mega evolved her Metagross, Athena. Jazz led her side's charge, knife in hand, and went straight for Billie. Athena moved in front of Billie and telepathically said in feminine voice. "The bitch be crazy!" Athena's front claws glowed silver and closed themselves around Jazz. She leapt into the air and curled into a ball. After clearing the claws, Jazz found herself in Athena's face with one foot balanced on the spike of her lower face. She jumped off of the spike and over the Metagross with her knife ready to be driven into Billie's chest. Billie stepped to side and grabbed her in the air before throwing her to the ground. With her own knife, she plunged down on Jazz who rolled out of the way.

Beat had followed right behind Jazz and delivered a Blaze Kick to Athena. Both were knocked away from their trainers and landed by the lake. Beat's paws and eyes were envelope in black shadows. She charged when the shadows faded with claws made of purple energy sheathing her arms. A glob of psychic energy formed in front of Athena and caught the first claw. The claw dissipated and, Beat quickly followed through with her other arm in an upper cut. Athena brought down her upper left arm and met Beat's claw with it. The blows recoiled back at one another and a short space between them opened. Athena was about to attack again but light from the pond made her stop.

Every Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Poliwrath, and Politoad had clambered out of the pond before Drema and Noland blasted the lake with Shock Wave and Thunderbolt. Sally's scream filled the forest and Jazz took advantage of Billie's moment of concern to deliver a kick to the abdomen. Billie quickly rolled to her feet and said, "You're risking Genovese getting captured for a support."

"I'm crazy not stupid." Hope the Lapras emerged from the pond with Sally on her back and raced to edge where a wall of Poliwrath and Politoad awaited. She didn't stop and simply hit them with Freeze Dry forcing them to back off. She then placed Sally on dry land and used Rest.

The Poli's next attempt to interfere was interrupted by Giacchino and Ares the Hydreigon's Dragon Pulse collision. Streams of flames from Apollo and Krewella were added to mix scorching the grass by the pond and drying out the mud. Giacchino shot his jaws forward catching one of Ares' head-claws in an Ice Fang. Ares fired a Dragon Pulse from the other but, Giacchino swung his head sending the attack haphazardly into the pond where it exploded.

Water fell from the air and wet the pond's circumference. Most of the Poli had taken to fleeing back into the relative safety of the water and were rocking around from the shockwave. They had also taken Sally's unconscious Pokémon to the shore for fear of retaliation. Billie kept part of her attention on all of this and fended off Jazz who was proving to be a far more formidable opponent now that both her arms were free. Both of them had knives out with one arm attacking and the other guarding. Both suddenly ducked as a Shadow Ball flew over their heads.

Persephone reeled from the Shadow Ball that had hit her while Poseidon, Billie's Empoleon, opened his mouth and fired a Flash Cannon at Rhythm. Rhythm threw up a Protect to block the attack and used her own Thunderbolt. Poseidon staggered back and smiled as Rhythm was hit by a Shadow Claw from behind. She teleported to form some distance and began firing a volley of Shadow Balls at them. Persephone then grabbed Poseidon and pulled him into the shadows with her. Rhythm stopped her attack and sank into the shadows herself. When Persephone and Poseidon emerged and were met by air, Rhythm appeared behind them shocking Poseidon and hit Persephone with Shadow Ball.

Before Rhythm could attack again, Stirling was being into backed between her and Billie's Pokémon. Hades was barreling towards them with flames pouring from his mouth like water. Rhythm stepped in front of Stirling and used Dazzling Gleam. The Houndoom retaliated with a Flamethrower that cancelled the Dazzling Gleam out. Stirling then grabbed Poseidon and threw him at Hades while Rhythm hit Persephone with another Shadow Ball causing her to finally collapse. Stirling charged forward and drove a white glowing claw into Poseidon and ramming him into Hades.

Billie barely had time to notice her downed Pokémon before Jazz slashed into her cheek. Jazz stopped right at that moment and drew a ragged breath. Billie took the momentary pause to withdraw Persephone and was set upon almost instantly. She grabbed Jazz by the arm and attempted to throw her down but, Jazz snaked her legs around Billie's and brought both of them to ground with Jazz's legs locked around Billie's thighs. Jazz brought her knife down and, Billie caught her wrist. Jazz brought her hand to the hand of knife for more pressure and, Billie used her other hand to support the first. Jazz breath bore down on Billie with the same urgency of the knife. Her red eyes were still just as wide and teeth grit. "Can I just say that if we'd met under different circumstances I would totally tap that ass?"

A quick glance over the Jazz's shoulder revealed that any attempt Tony made to get closer resulted in being shocked by Bianca's Pokémon. The sound of barking heralded Billie's rescue as Hades powered through the explosion of a Moonblast. Jazz pulled herself up and flipped over the Houndoom that was now standing between her and Billie. His snarling was accented by flames. Jazz noticed at this point and Giacchino was down and withdrew him. "Can I say I'm just glad to finally find someone I can't break on whim?" Billie answered.

Stirling skittered in front of Jazz and used Hone Claws. "House Mafia!" Jazz said between drags of air. "Track 22!" Stirling blurred into a multitude of decoys that surrounded Hades.

"Flames Charge!" Hades burst through the copies while fire coated his body. Stirling halted herself and fired her attack at Hades who then turned around and caught the ball of purple sludge in a torrent of fire. Rather than simply being blown apart the ball burst. Replacing the fire was a purple gas that fanned out from the source.

"Oh fuck! Bianca! Move!" Jazz quickly withdrew all her Pokémon except Beat and Stirling then scarfed down a few of the Pecha Berries that were in her pocket. Billie did the same leaving Athena and Poseidon out. Bianca and her Pokémon could be seen running away from the expanding poison cloud to the other side of the pond.

"Move in! Do not let Genovese escape!" Jazz ran at her again with Beat close behind. Athena once again moved in front of Billie. The Metagross brought its arms together and encased them in a golden spiked ball. Jazz and Beat dove to either side as Athena charged forward and, she only stopped when she crashed into Stirling's Protect. Athena staggered back and was knocked further by Stirling's Night Slash. She steadied herself let out a sneer before reading her claws to attack the Drapion. Before she could deliver a blow, Stirling was washed in a red light and pulled into her Pokéball.

"Think fast!" Jazz had splashed into the pond by the time Athena had turned to her. She dove to Billie and scooped her up into her claws before generating a magnetic field around them. Beat's body glowed brown then she slammed her arms into ground. The resulting tremor shook the trees and upturned the earth. Hunks of dirt were tossed into the air and the water in the pond sloshed, sending Jazz, the Poli, and Hope in every direction.

When the shaking stopped, Poseidon was laying on ground, covered in dirt and unmoving. The gas had cleared and Jazz pulled herself from the water coughing. She released Stirling, Rhythm, and Krewella as Billie released her other Pokémon and withdrew Poseidon. Jazz looked past Billie and saw Bianca running towards them with around thirty grunts on her tail. Jazz felt her chest burn and her heart pound. Her arms were growing heavy. Still, her teeth were in a grit smile. " _I can keep this up for about five more minutes. Bianca can keep the grunts busy. We've got to take down the Metagross_ _first. Krewella, Stirling, you two keep her other Pokémon distracted. Rhythm and Beat, you're all in on the Metagross._ "

"I don't think that's gonna work." Beat spun around and looked past Jazz. Bleda emerged from the ground with Attila and Hun riding atop his head.

"I'm sorry, Billie, but this farce has gone on long enough." Hun said. "She's gotten in Team Rocket's way three times already and, we still owe her some pain and suffering for Oak's lab. Thanks for softening her up for us though."

Billie narrowed her eyes. "Do you really think you stand a...Watch out!" Chain of stones burst out of the ground and wrapped itself around Bleda. The Steelix was dragging down to the earth flinging his trainer and their partner off. An Onix came out the ground underneath him and knocked Bleda into the air.

Sky Eater watched as Bleda fell into the pond and, Brock took stock of the situation from atop his head. Jazz's breathing involved her shoulders rising well above the normal height; her clothes were soaked through; she had multiple cuts on her arms and torso; and she was using two Mega Evolutions at once. Bianca and her Pokémon were presently surrounded by Team Rocket grunts. All eyes were focused on him and Sky Eater.

Billie's eyes darted to and fro before coming to the obvious conclusion. "Fall back! Meet at the rendezvous!"

"We're running away again!?" Hun asked as Bleda was withdrawn.

Attila grabbed Hun's shoulder and jerked his head to the southern sky. Hun looked and saw a blue dot over trees speeding towards them. The Garchomp landed in front of Bianca in between her and the grunts' Pokémon. Roland, clothes dirtied by dry red clay, slid off Silt's back. "Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and those of unclear gender. Today is Sunday which was supposed to be my pottery and chill day. Yet here I am cleaning up some trash. Or you could save me the trouble and surrender."

The grunts looked at the Garchomp and the Onix leering at them. Then they took a look at Billie. Then Athena took advantage of the pause and launched herself across pond with Billie withdrawing her Pokémon in her arms. The grunts followed Billie's lead promptly scattering themselves into the forest with their Pokémon in tow. Attila and Hun once again made their getaway on a Mandibuzz.

"Aren't you gonna chase them?" Bianca said as the Rocket's fled.

"No need." Roland responded. "The ranger's from Viridian are surrounding the perimeter of the Forest as we speak. Police from both Pewter and Viridian are gonna be patrolling the main road on Route 2 as well. They'll get most of 'em. You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's Jazz that I'm worried…oh God!" Jazz was on the ground. Both Rhythm and Beat, Mega Evolutions ended, were next to her using Heal Pulse on her wounds. Brock had hopped off of Sky Eater and went to attend to her. Bianca and Roland went over as well. "Are you okay!?"

Jazz just smiled and forced herself up. Her breathing was still strained and her arms were shaking. "I'm fine. Just need a break. "

"What happened anyway?" Roland asked "You should be sore not tired."

"Double Mega Evolution." Brock said. Roland gave a knowing look. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Roland looked at Bianca. "That kid these two were with, Nick I think, he called me and said you were in some kind of trouble." Brock chuckled.

"She'll be fine, right?" Bianca asked.

"She should be." Brock said. "Let's just head back to the ranger's station for now. We'll get everything straightened there. Everyone can ride Sky Eater."

-#-

At the station, Jazz stubbornly refused to take a nap, talk to the investigating police, or cooperate in any way that didn't involve taking down Team Rocket members that happened to be nearby. "Talk about stubborn." Roland said. He and Bianca had taken the roof of the station as a personal getaway.

"Yeah, I know." Bianca then had a thought. "Holy crap. It's only been five days. With all the Team Rocket fights and a Gym battle it feels like it's been a lot longer."

"You're tellin' me. I can hardly I've been a Gym for about a year. That guy…" He said pointing at Brock. "…told me the good trainers wouldn't start challenging us 'til about six months into the season. You know how that turned out."

"Sure do. Good thing too. If we'd been delayed, Team Rocket might've done who knows what to the Viridian Forest. Still, thanks for coming even on your day off."

"Don't mention it. If Team Rocket just goes around causing whatever trouble they feel like, the Pokémon here are gonna less than happy and, keeping the peace between humans and Pokémon is literally in my job description. Your Gym Leader friend, he must've told you that."

"Yeah. Unova's Gym Leaders are pretty big on their duties. Say, if you don't mind me asking, why did you become a Gym Leader?"

Roland shrugged. "Don't see why not. Way back in the day, about eight years ago I came from the Hoenn region to compete at the Indigo Plateau. I try to get my first badge from Viridian and the leader absolutely floors me and Loam. I thought about calling quits after that but, then a thought occurred to me. The Mudkip line become Ground type when they evolve and the Viridian Gym Leader traditionally specializes in Ground types. The plan was to study under him until me and Loam became stronger and we could take on the Gym challenge in Johto the next year. Then…" Ronald snapped his fingers.

"… before I knew it a whole year had gone by. I was Giovanni's star pupil, the only person he taught how to use Epicenter. Then Red told me and the other Gym trainers the truth, about him and about Team Rocket. Three years later I took the Indigo Plateau. Fast forward to last year, with Bruno retiring and Blue retaking the championship from Lance, the Gym Leader position was in need to be filled. And who better than a young Ground type specialist like yours truly to do filling.

"Besides, I feel like I owe Viridian City just for being a part of it even if I didn't know what was really going on. Having a Gym in town pretty much guarantees tourism not just from trainers but, people who just wanna meet us since lots us were famous trainers beforehand. A Gym Leader being part of a major criminal organization is a serious blow to both to a city's reputation and finances."

Bianca pulled her knees to her chest. "I can't believe people would use their Pokémon like that. I mean, we're supposed to be partners aren't we."

"And Giovanni wasn't?" Roland said. Bianca shot him a crooked eyebrow. "Hear me out. Let's face it. Pokémon do not care about humanity's issues. The relationship between a Pokémon and their partner is just that. Take Giovanni for instance. His Pokémon were all fiercely loyal to him regardless of what he did or who he used them to fight. He's even the one who taught me how to use Mega Evolution. Whether we agree with him or not the bond between him and his Pokémon was real. As long that bond is there, then anyone has the right to call themselves a trainer. That's what I took from my experience. Okay enough about me. What about you miss research assistant? What brought you to be on a road far from home?"

"Oh, lots of reasons. From the beginning, I always wanted to do something with Pokémon. With my best friends, Cheren and White always talking about being trainers I thought I could do it too. Turns out, battling isn't really my thing. But, on my journey I met Professor Juniper and she inspired me to become researcher like her and her dad. Then a month after our journey ended, White just vanished. She said she was looking for someone and no one's seen her since. That's part of why I volunteered. I thought maybe I find could a clue or something.

"Besides that, I still want to see the world y'know. My dad's so protective of me, its suffocating sometimes."

"Sounds fascinating." Roland said. "Sounds like I wanna hear more."

Bianca laughed softly. "You're trying this again."

"That I am. You'll be in Pewter City by Tuesday. I'll make dinner reservations. Pick you up in front of the Center at seven?"

Bianca didn't respond for a second then smiled at him. "Sure, it's a date."

Roland hopped up to his feet. "It sure is. Alright, I've gotta go. I'll see you in couple days." He hopped off the roof let Silt out of his Pokéball. Before he could took off Brock, grabbed his shoulder. "Yep?"

"What do you make of this?" Brock said.

"Cute scientist girl travelling with a reasonably smart kid and a strong, albeit reckless, Pokémon trainer? Coincidence? Fate? Nothing really to make of it."

"I meant Team Rocket. They'd been playing under the radar since the Goldenrod incident. Then all of a sudden they start attacking research labs?"

Roland's eyes narrowed for a moment. "Are you serious right now? What did the Iron Dick put you up to this?"

"No! Of course not!" Brock shook his head. "But that's two incidents around Viridian City in less than a week. Three if that Mankey stampede I heard about is connected. He's going to start asking questions. I just don't want you getting grilled and not having a good word."

Roland rolled his eyes. "Look the last time I saw Giovanni he was about to throw himself over Tohjo Falls. After that he vanished just like he did the first time. No one I know seen or heard from him since. It's what I told him first time and it hasn't changed since then."

Roland climbed onto the Garchomp who ran straight forward on the dirt road until he tucked his arms in and took flight. Brock breathed out a sigh and turned to Jazz who was keeping an eye out for more Rockets rather than resting. Brock walked over to her and said, "So what's your deal."

Jazz clicked her tongue and said, "My 'deal' is that I'm trainer who's lookin' to be number one. Same as everyone else."

"That so? Have you ever considered using other skills? Seems to me that they'd be suited to work for Interpol or the G-men Corps."

Jazz let single syllable, tired sounding laugh. "Me? A spook? Solvin' crimes? Answerin' to the Iron Dick? Workin' for the people who buried my home? Fuck that! 'Sides, I've already got enough people who want me dead as is. Let's see 'em try to come at a champion's head."

"So why are you fighting Team Rocket now?"

Jazz grinned. "They've made the unfortunate mistake of gettin' in my way."

"And if they kill you?"

"Sucks for me."

Brock tilted his head and paused. "Well, my place is to test your battling skills as opposed to life choices." He pulled out two Pokéballs. Sky Eater went into one and an Aerodactyl came out of the other. Brock climbed onto his Aerodactyl's back and said. "I look forward to your challenge, Jazz Heterodyne. Alright, to Pewter!" And with that he took off to north.

"Mind your own damn business." Jazz muttered as she watched him leave.

"He has a point, you know." Rhythm said. "You would make a good cop."

"Assuming she doesn't tell the chief he a can go eat a dick, doesn't stab people when they try to get away, and started giving two shits about the law." Beat said. "So what's the rest of the day like, Jazz?"

"We're staying the night here." Bianca approached with her arms folded. "The rangers have kindly offered let us use their guest room for the night and, it'd be rude to decline."

"What?" Jazz's face fell. "But if we leave now, we can reach Pewter by nightfall tomorrow."

"Assuming you don't collapse on the road. Look at you. You're exhausted."

"Oh come on. I grew up in a desert. Harsh conditions are my natural habitat. Rhythm, Beat, back me up."

"I vote with Bianca." Rhythm raised her hand. "I think everyone deserves rest after today."

"Agreed." Beat said. "You're no good as a trainer if you're nodding off in the middle of battles."

"Short stuff!"

From his seat on the front stoop of the station Nico looked up from Conifer and Fuse's play and said, "I think we should chill here for today."

Jazz lowered her face and said "Fine. Ya bunch o' wimps."

 **Please review if you have the time.**


	7. Princes Kept the View

Updated 4/18/16

 **Chapter 7**

 **Princes Kept the View**

Monday was cloudy. Sunshine slipped to the ground through holes in the grey sky. After leaving the ranger's station yesterday morning, as the sun began to set, the trainer, the assistant, the kid, and their Pokémon finally concluded the day and half trek to Pewter City. With nothing but the gate in between them, the group walked forward. Bianca and Nico looked behind them to the east and saw the huge mound that had the best known entrance to Diglett Tunnel dug into its side.

"Hey, Jazz." Nico said. "I hear people catch the Diglett from that cave to have type advantage against Brock. Do think that'd work?"

Jazz was quiet for a moment before her head snapped up. "Sorry, short stuff. Brainstormin' right now. To answer your question, I doubt it. Between Magnet Rise and Aerodactyl a fresh caught isn't gonna do anyone any good against Brock, especially against his Onix."

"Is Sky Eater really that strong?" Nico asked.

"Well, he's not called 'the world's strongest Onix' for nothin'. Even Red's Pokémon don't try to take him head on. So yeah, he's no push over. Not to mention he'll probably have Mega Aerodactyl and Regirock for back up. Jimi and Beat are no brainers but, as for the rest of the team… meh, no use sweatin' it too much."

"Wow, how do you do it?" Bianca asked. "Stay so relaxed I mean. Back when I was collecting badges, I would always wrack my brain for days before a gym battle and I didn't have to worry about their strongest Pokémon. Cheren and White never freaked like that."

"And that leads us to the tale of Natalie Kincaid." Jazz began. "Natalie Kincaid was a really hot trainer from Unova. Everything seemed to be going her way. She'd gotten all eight of her badges through victory. The tournament arrives. She's on a tear and everyone thinks she gonna take the Vertress Conference. She makes it to final eight and then…"

"And then Cheren destroyed her, six to zero, and went on to win the tournament." Bianca said. "Everyone was surprised."

"Kincaid's problem was that all of her battles were won by followin' a very specific strategy designed for her opponent. All Cheren had to do was switch his usual opener and it was game over. In simulation and at lower levels, that kind of thing works fine. But as you rise through the ranks skill, flexibility, move sets, sheer difference in power, and all sorts of other factors start to show up. It's kinda like this. If you try to predict everything that'll happen you just end up fuckin' yourself over when you can't adapt. It's best just to come with a general outline of a plan and have team that's flexible enough to see that plan through. That's one of the reasons I took on the Battle Frontier first. Get me better at thinking on my feet."

"So it's bad to overthink things?" Nico crooked an eyebrow.

"No. Of course not. It's bad to think your overthinking will somehow lead to the perfect strategy is what I'm sayin'."

"Still, you have to admit getting all your badges through victory is impressive." Bianca said.

"It's… meh" Jazz said. "Thing is, Gym Leaders aren't allowed to research their challengers at all. They have absolutely no idea what they'll be up against. Not to mention the other handicaps they'll give themselves like forbiddin' switches and not usin' their best Pokémon. Kinda gives us a big advantage."

They continued walking as Nico began to ponder Jazz's words. He thought about her battle with Roland. "Why start with Rhythm?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"When you battled Roland why'd you start with Rhythm?"

"Yeah, I was wondering about that too." Bianca added. "Rhythm and Beat are obviously your strongest Pokémon. Why would you start with them?"

"To answer that question, we look to how the battle ended. He had two Pokémon left that took quad damage from Ice-type moves. For me to put him that position I had to know what team he was runnin'. Notice that even though Rhythm was at a huge advantage, what did he not do?"

Both Bianca and Nico walked in silence until Nico said, "Switch."

"Ding, ding, ding! In short order he wasn't takin' the battle seriously until after his Gliscor's Poison Cure was eliminated."

"Oh! I get it!" Bianca said. "You wanted him to start rotating his team around so you could leave him with only Gliscor and Garchomp. That's why you Mean Looked his Camerupt. Ice is neutral to it and its fire-typing made it threat your Vanilluxe. But there's one thing I still don't get."

"What?"

"Why didn't you use any water-types?"

Jazz shrugged. "Don't have any. Simple as that. Should probably rectify it though."

Pewter City wasn't as big as Viridian but, still fairly sizable. It also had a much more rustic feel to it. Most of the buildings in the center of town were over a hundred years old still standing thanks to the stone they were built out of. When Jazz thought about it, it was almost inevitable that a Pokémon Gym sprang up there. On paper, someone could simply cut southeast to Celadon City but, the treacherous landscape and vicious Pokémon that inhabited that stretch of land meant the danger outweighed the time spent travelling. The Routes were dictated by safety not efficiency and to that day neither man nor Pokémon dared to tempt the balance. With that in mind, trainers had to pass through Pewter to get to Cerulean City or risk going through Diglett Cave which is known for its cave in caused by feuding Digtrio to reach Vermillion. Eighty years ago Joseph Stone, great grandfather of Steven Stone, used that argument to petition for the right to open a Gym in his home town which the League granted.

The Pokémon Center was located in the town square near various shop and stalls. When they entered, Jazz said, "You two go check us in. Need to use the vid-phone." The group split and after a short wait Jazz got her time at one of the center's vid-phone. She dialed the number on the touch screen and after a few short rings a Chansey appeared on screen. "Sup, Rurutia?" She responded with a cheerful pitch. "Yeah, just got into Pewter 'bout fifteen minutes ago. Gonna challenge the Gym tomorrow. Speaking of which go grab Jimi for me, would ya?"

Rurutia walked off screen as Jazz caught sight of Professor Rowan's mustache. "Rurutia, what have I told you about answering the phone?" The mustache pulled his displaced chair towards the phone and sat down. "Jazz, good to see you're doing well. I heard from Samuel that you delivered the GS Ball as requested. You have both of our thanks."

"I told ya not to sweat it."

"That you did. However, there are more pressing concerns I would like to speak with you about. I understand that you've agreed to travel with Bianca Genovese."

"Yeah. What about it?"

"It's just that I've received word that you've had a few encounters with Team Rocket. Is there anything you believe is worth mentioning in relation to these attacks?"

"Nope."

"Anything at all?"

"Nothin' Oak wouldn't have already told you."

"Humor me."

Jazz blew some air out the side of her mouth. "Fine. I overheard some chatter about a legendary Pokémon. S'bout it."

"I see." Rowan's tone of voice changed just slightly. "Anyway, I suppose you called for something else."

"Yeah, need a couple Pokémon transported for my Gym battle. Rurutia already went to grab Jimi. I'll need 'em both and I'm sendin' Stirling and Giacchino back over."

"Understood." Rowan turned and spoke again, "Dawn if you could…"

"I already heard her."

The exchange was quick and smooth and free because of Rowan's IRPRI affiliation. "Well, s'bout it. Anything else before I hang up."

"Actually, I recommend going to the Pewter City museum since your already in town. They recently opened an exhibit on the plates of Arceus and, it's rather fascinating if I say so myself. Other than that, I wish you best of luck in your upcoming Gym battle."

"C'mon, Professor, you know me. The only luck I want is the luck I make." Rowan simply nodded before ending the call.

"So, do you have any idea what the plan is?" Beat asked as she and Rhythm followed Jazz to the front desk.

"Yeah, actually, I do." She answered. "We're not gonna win in terms of sheer power obviously. Our best shot is wear 'em down with status effects then go on an all-out offensive towards the end. It's a four v four so, Rhythm you 'n' Rurutia will be status. Beat, you 'n' Jimi'll be on offense. I'll go over the details in the courtyard where we can have everyone out."

At the front desk Jazz was informed that Bianca and Nico had gotten a room on the third floor. They climbed up the stairs and found it easily enough. When they entered, Nico, Conifer, and Fuse were watching the television and Bianca was nowhere to be seen. "Yeah, don't let Fuse near any electronics. Especially not your Pokédex. Those things are expensive."

"Say, Jazz, how come you don't have a Pokédex?" Nico asked as he let Fuse climb up his arm.

Jazz shrugged. "Grew up poor. Still am poor. 'Sides, I don't really need one. Between reading so many damn books on Pokémon when I was little and years of firsthand experience, my Pokédex is right up here." She tapped her temple. "Even so, the Pokédex is meant to be a field guide more than anything. 'Bout a year after they hit the market, the League made using them in battles against the rules so, it'd be a waste of money at this point. Still, I'm a bit surprised your parents even let you go on your journey. Lots of rich people tend to not let their kids go out, even if it is just for a year."

"Yeah, my dad actually had to talk my mom into letting me and my older brother go on ours. Still, she insisted on getting us premium bred Pokémon for starters rather than the standard League distributions."

A grin spread across Jazz's face. "Is that so? Well then, short stuff, how do feel about a little experimentin'?"

"Huh?"

"Better tell Bianca first though so, she doesn't have a conniption or somethin'. Any idea where she went?"

"She went into the bathroom." He pointed at the small one that came with the room. "She said was getting ready for her date."

"That so?" Jazz wasted no time reaching the door to the bathroom. Rather than knocking it, she opened it wide and, Nico turned to face the other way. As opposed to the startled look she expected, Bianca was still staring at mirror in her under wear. Her hands were shaking with the makeup pouch in them and, she was muttering something under her breath. "Oh boy." Jazz said in Unovan. She stepped into the bathroom as Bianca turned to acknowledge her and closed the door. "Gimme that before you make yourself look like a clown." She didn't wait to snatch the pouch from Bianca and sit her down on the toilet.

"I must look pretty pathetic, huh."

Jazz chuckled. "I've seen worse. Trust me. Close your eyes." Jazz casually began apply eye shadow primer from the pouch. "What's got you so nervous anyway?"

"I don't know. Between studying under Professor Juniper and all the craziness that tends to come my way, I just haven't had time for dating. Do you ever get that feeling?"

"Well, I've been travelin' since I was nine-years-old. Honestly I can't remember the last time I stayed in one place for more than a few months. 'Sides if ya haven't already noticed I'm gay so, my reference pool's just a bit different from yours."

"You kinda wear it on your sleeve. Wait, nine? Most people are at least eleven when they go on their journey. Why'd you start yours so early?"

"That's when my parents died."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"Nah, don't worry about it. My folks aren't exactly worth cryin' over. Last time I saw my mom alive she was chuckin' an empty whiskey bottle at my head. And my dad, whenever he was around, well let's just say the only positives are that he taught me how to fight and that he gave me Rhythm and Beat. Open 'em." Jazz began to put on mascara. "Anyway, there was no point in me stayin' in Pyrite Town at that point so, I stowed away on a ship to Unova."

"That…sounds rough." Bianca in an attempt to lighten the mood then said, "So, if this doesn't sound offensive, why do you know how to put on makeup? You don't exactly strike me as the type."

"Really? Take a good look at my eyes." Bianca did and noticed the eye liner. "I studied under Valerie, Laverre City Gym Leader in Kalos. The Gym's motto is 'la Force de beauté" or 'the strength of beauty.' Unsurprisingly since Valerie's a fashion designer and model, her trainers were expected to come to battle in full furisode and makeup. Add on the fact that almost no one with my complexion trained under her and, I frequently ended up being used for practice, often for less than desirable results. Pretty sure, my furisode's still somewhere in my bag."

"I'm still trying to wrap my mind around you in a furisode."

"Yeah, I get that reaction a lot. 'Bout to start on the lips. Anyway, trainin' under Valerie was a weird ass experience to say the least. Then I thought it'd be smart to go to Olympia, then Wulfric. Before that though, I was with Grant and Korrina so that was almost two years in the Kalos region. Course before that I was training in Unova under Drayden for like a year."

"How'd that…"

"Watch it!" Jazz quickly moved back to avoid smearing across Bianca's face.

"Sorry."

"To answer your question, I may have gotten caught up with some assholes called Team Plasma. And by 'caught up' I mean I threw 'em out a four story window in that mall on Route 9. Done."

Jazz pulled Bianca by the arm and swung her front of the mirror. To her surprise, Jazz's work was incredibly well done, less change and more highlight. "Wow, Jazz."

"Qu'est-ce à dire? Suis très bon ma chérie." Jazz said. "I'm sure you can handle the rest on your own. Me 'n' Nico'll be trainin' out in the courtyard. Knock 'im dead." She exited the bathroom and was almost disappointed to find that Nico hadn't been eavesdropping not that she thought he could've understood them. Switching back to Kantese she said, "Alright, people, now that little crisis is averted, let's get down to business."

"Sure. What happened in there anyway?" Rhythm asked.

"Oh, y'know. Girl stuff." Jazz led Nico and their Pokémon down to the Center's courtyard. The sun was nearly set and a few trainers, mostly new littered the yard. When Jazz let out a Torterra, Chansey, Delphox, and Scyther the impression she'd made was obvious. She ignored the stares and occupied one of the battlefields. It was much smaller than League regulation size but, it would work for her purposes.

"Alright, Nico, as I mentioned earlier predictin' everything your opponent might throw at you is a waste of time. The best solution is to teach your Pokémon the widest variety of moves possible. Now then, there are four ways Pokémon can learn a new move. The first is that the move just comes to 'em as they grow stronger. No one's exactly sure how that works though. It's just one of those things. On top of that, Pokémon tend learn moves faster if they haven't evolved. Method two are these." From her bag Jazz pulled out a case containing rows of colored disks. "These are what are known as TMs. I've got no idea how these things work and, they cost a bitch and a half but, they work quick. Observe."

Jazz pulled a gray TM out of the case and tapped to Conifer's head. Both he and the disc glowed gray before the light faded. "Show 'im." Conifer hands glowed the same gray. He pressed them into the ground and pulled them back up with a pair of rocks which he threw expertly into the force field around them. "Rock Slide. And now he has double effective against four of his type disadvantages. You're welcome.

"Method number three is easily the slowest: tutoring. It's exactly what it sounds like. And last but not least, inheritance which I don't even think science has figured yet. That's what you're here for."

"You think Conifer might have inherited some moves?" Conifer in turn climbed up to his perch on Nico's shoulder.

"If he didn't, your mom got ripped off."

"Conifer, you got anything I haven't seen yet?"

-#-

Bianca needlessly straightened the green, knee-length dress as Roland approached with a bouquet of daffodils. He'd taken to wearing an open red blazer over a button up shirt and dark pants. They agreed via text to meet up in the town square. "Stay calm. Stay calm." She said to herself. "He's probably just as nervous as you are. So just pretend to be calm so, he won't be able to tell the difference."

"Everything okay?" Bianca nearly jumped when she realized Roland was right in front of her holding flowers. Upon closer inspection, Roland's jaw scruff was much neater than before and his hair now fell just past his shoulders.

"Um, yeah, it's fine. Everything's fine." She didn't realize it but, she practically snatched the bouquet out of Roland's hand. "How'd you know I liked daffodils?"

"I asked Cheren." He said as casually as he usually was. "What? Did think I'd just get a lucky guess or something?"

"Or maybe you're psychic."

"Nah, that's Sabrina's shtick. Oh, she and Jazz are gonna have a great time when they meet." Roland began leading her through Pewter City.

"What makes you say that?"

"We Pokémon trainers tend to be an eccentric bunch if you haven't noticed already. The head strong Jazz pitted against the force choke happy Sabrina. Those'll be some fireworks. So what have you been up to over the past couple days?"

"Not much. Route 2 was really quiet. We ran into a nasty flock of Spearow but, Jazz and her Pokémon took care of that without breaking a sweat."

"Well, that's good to hear." They rounded the corner to the restaurant called The Boulder. Roland held the door and Bianca graciously entered. They walked up to the host and Roland said, "Reservation for Kellstadt. K-e-l-l-s-t-a-d-t."

The host tapped the screen on his podium led them to their table. The restaurant heavily relied on gray for its decoration much like the rest of the city, up to and including the tables. It was multi-tiered with the seats rising closer and closer to kitchen before it leveled out where their table was set and waiting. Subtle jazz played from the speakers. "Your waiter will be with you shortly."

"This is really nice." Bianca said as she began to look at the menu.

"Yeah, I was tempted go with a battle restaurant but, figured we needed something new to talk about. So, what was it like growing up in Unova?"

"Hm. Well, it's not like I came from one of the big cities or anything. Nuvema Town's this tiny little thing on the tip of the eastern peninsula. Most people who live there commute to Castelia on the ferry or run a local business. Still everyone's pretty friendly. Everyone knows everyone else and you really had to try to get out of trouble.

"Like this one time, my friend White convinced me and Cheren to break into the middle school to help her prank our teacher. That part, surprisingly, went smoothly but, someone saw us leaving the school. Our parents knew before we even got home. Grounded for month, before I even said 'Hi, Mom.'

"Thing was no one thought to ask why were in the school in the first place. So that Monday, the teacher opens her desk drawer and gets pasted by Oran berry pulp. So that was week of detention plus two more weeks of being grounded."

"Sounds like it was worth it to me."

"Oh it was. Until my Dad started ranting about how terrible an influence White was. Sometimes I thought he would've locked me in a gold cage given the chance." Bianca paused for moment. "That didn't sound really blonde, did it?"

Roland chuckled, "No. I know the feeling. My mom tries to find literally any excuse to come see me. 'Caught a cold? I'll personally bring you the soup.' 'Moving into your own place? I'll help you decorate.' 'Got a new gym trainer? I'll bake them cookies.' She does make amazing cookies, by the way. Don't even get me started on when I got my first girlfriend."

"She didn't Internet stalk her for a week did she?"

"Wait. What?"

Before Bianca answered, the waitress arrived. "Hello, welcome to the Boulder. My name is Holly and I'll be your waitress for this evening. May I start you off with some drinks and hors d'oeuvres?"

"What wines do you have?" Roland asked

"All wines served at the Boulder are made here in the Kanto region and are aged no less than twenty years. For red, I'd recommend the Rafureissa and white the Kireihana, both from the Frome Vineyard in Celadon."

"I'll have a bottle of the white one and glass of water."

"I'll have a water as well."

"And the hors d'oeuvres?"

"I'll tell you when you back." The waitress took the request down and walked off to the kitchen. "So what's this about Internet stalking?"

"Oh, God. Why'd I mention that?" Bianca said. "So I'm thirteen years old. A boy asks me to a movie. Of course I tell my parents. At first my dad seems to be acting normal. So then I get on the computer in his office, and his browser history is just full of searches for this poor kid. Then I told my mom and, it was this huge mess and the boy still refuses to talk to me."

"So like, no threatening emails or messages right?"

"Not that I know of." Holly returned with the waters, wine in an ice bucket, and wine glasses.

"I'll think we'll pass on the hors d'oeuvres, unless…" Roland looked at Bianca.

"I'm good, thank you. Um, can we get a few minutes to decide on our order?"

"Certainly."

As Holly walked away Roland took a glance at the menu. "Hey," Bianca began. "This isn't gonna be too pricey for you is it?"

"I have an action figure. People literally pay me to wear their shoes in public. In fact this jacket probably cost more than this meal and I got for free. This economy runs on Pokémon. Not to mention my art pieces. Money is the least of my concerns so, go nuts."

"I'm sorry. I just didn't want to assume."

"Fair enough."

"You mentioned art pieces?"

"Yeah. I grew up in a town called Fallarbor, way up in the northern part of Hoenn. You're either a farmer, work at the observatory, or an artisan. Most of my childhood was spent at my Grandma's house with her old Camerupt hand making ceramic tableware. Before she passed she told me I'd better prove her wrong about being a trainer and a pottery maker at the same time. Another reason I took over at Viridian was because of the huge red clay deposits."

"Wouldn't that be really close to Meteor Falls?"

"It's about two day hike on foot. My dad would take me up there for a camping trip every summer. He's a technician at the observatory. Oh man, he absolutely lost it when I won the Indigo Plateau. And when lost on the third battle of the Elite Four challenge he came up to me and said, 'Son, most folks would've pissed themselves the second they realized a Sharpedo was two feet away from their face.' "

"You two sound close."

"Yeah, now he won't stop talking how awesome his only son is."

The waitress returned, took their order, and promptly left the two to talk about this or that.

-#-

At the Pokémon Center, Nico stood the edge of the battlefield with Conifer in front of him and Fuse in her Pokéball. Across from him was another rookie with a Rattata. A simple two v two battle with no substitutions from a challenger looking to test his skills against Jazz and was promptly redirected to Nico. "Beat him and I'll battle ya." She'd said and was now acting as the referee.

"Are both trainers, ready?" Both nodded Nico with a swallow and the opponent with a cocky grin. "Begin!"

"Quick Attack!" The kid ordered.

"Bullet Seed at the feet." The Rattata dashed across the battlefield kicking up dust and leaving after images as it went and, though Bullet Seed never actually hit, it accomplished its goal of slowing its target down. "Absorb!" Green tendrils emerged from Conifer's tail as the Rattata finally got in close and wrapped themselves around it. It struggled against the pull for a second before they dissipated and Nico told Conifer to follow through with Pound.

The Rattata shakily recovered and patiently waited for the next order, "Focus Energy!"

"Crush Claw!" The Rattata's body glowed with an orange energy and, Conifer's hand was encased in white glowing claw. Conifer rushed across the battlefield ready to strike. Right before he brought the claw down, the Rattata's teeth glowed and bit into Conifer's torso. The Pokémon wrestled around on the ground for a moment before the Rattata was yanked off. "Energy Ball!" The attack landed and, Rattata bounced back a few feet before coming to a stop, unconscious.

"Rattata is unable to battle!" Jazz informed the kid. He put the Pokémon in its Pokéball before sending out his second, a Spearow that flitted above the ground. "Continue!"

"Peck!" The kid's order was immediate and confident and, the Spearow responded in kind flinging itself forward with its beak glowing white.

"Ride Slide!"

"Huh!?" Conifer was more than happy to chuck rocks at the Spearow who in turn deftly weaved its way through the barrage to deliver a blow close where the Rattata's Super Fang had hit. Conifer was knocked off his feet and slid back some before dragging himself back up. The Spearow pulled itself up and readied for another attack "Yes! Keep it up!"

"Dragon Breath on the next pass!"

"What!?" The Spearow dove back but right as made contact, steam of magenta gas from Conifer's mouth dowsed it. The Spearow was knocked back but, recovered quickly. Conifer on the other hand collapsed.

"Short stuff's Treeko is unable to battle!"

Nico withdrew Conifer then eyed his second Pokéball. Rather than throw it, Nico let Fuse materialize at his feet. He bent down and said, "Look I don't want you to get hurt so you don't have to fight if you don't want to." Fuse turned around to see her opponent. She looked back to Nico before hopping onto the battlefield with sparks jumping out of her cheeks.

"This can go very bad, very quickly." Beat said from beyond the force field.

"Sure can. Continue!"

"Pursuit!" The Spearow took to the air and dove forward at Fuse.

"Thunder Shock!" Arcs of electricity curved along the dirt and the Spearow pulled out before getting too close. Fuse attempted to follow from ground. "Nasty Plot!" For a second Fuse's small yellow head was surrounded by a black aura that faded in time for Pursuit to connect.

Fuse rolled back for a while then righted herself to all fours. Still, she was shaky. "One more Pursuit!" The Spearow circled back around for one last dive too fast for Fuse to get a spark going. Nico watched as the Spearow lowered itself into position then completely locked up and crashed into the ground. The kid didn't say anything but watched in stunned silence as his comeback was thwarted by a Thunder Shock.

"Worryin' about nothin' as always." Jazz said looking back at Beat. "Spearow is unable to battle! The victory goes to short stuff!"

By the time she'd said this, Fuse was about to be in Nico's arms before being morphing into an orb of yellow light that crackled with electricity. The light remained for thirty seconds before it burst open like a cocoon revealing a Pikachu with a notched tailed.

-#-

"Hope those two won't mind you coming back so late." Roland and Bianca approached the Pokémon Center with doggie bags in hand. The half empty bottle of Kireihana was tucked under Roland's arm. By the time they'd left the Boulder, well past midnight, the wait staff was starting to be sent home. The Wednesday morning was quiet save for the sound of their shoes.

"I don't think Jazz will mind and Nico's probably asleep by now." She yawned those last few words out. "Hey, I had really good time tonight."

"Me too." Roland said as he ran his hand through his hair. "So, you're headed to Cerulean or Vermillion next?"

"Cerulean."

"Cool. So that's like a four…five day trip."

"Jazz will probably find some way to make it three."

"Anyway, maybe I could meet up with you there. Check those underwater stage shows I've heard about." The answer he got wasn't the one he expected but, he would take anyway. Bianca's arms were around his neck, her chest to his, and her lips between his. He wrapped his arms around her waist and, they both let it sink in, the air from the other's nose and the taste of their four course dinners mixed with white wine, before splitting apart. Bianca slowly backed up and lingered against him before he stammered. "Yeah, just give me heads up so, I can buy the tickets online."

"Of course."

 **Please review if you have time**


	8. Come and Dig MyEarth

To the few regulars: As of 4/18/16 I have updated the previous chapters. Nothing major. Just a few details and titles.

 **Chapter 8**

 **Come and Dig My Earth**

The Pewter Gym was a tall building that stood over an older section of town. Built from bricks and stone, its weathered gray hue was as oppressive as its size. Large oak doors with the Boulder Badge engraved in their center served as the entrance. Jazz stood with Rhythm and Beat at her sides. Bianca, Nico, and Impala stood behind her. To Nico's chagrin Fuse and Conifer were now fighting over space on his shoulders. Jazz whistled as she drank in the rock type gym. "Talk about imposin'."

"Biggest word I've heard you use in while." Beat said. "Sky Eater got you nervous?"

"Oh please." She clasped her hands together and leaned over Rhythm, "If he gets too close, I know you two'll protect me."

"You're kinda working on the assumption we won't be busy." Rhythm said. "Or unconscious."

"Would y'all just chill." Jazz stepped forward to the door. "We've taken on worse than Sky Eater and pulled it off. Just leave the thinkin' to me."

As Jazz pushed the doors open, Impala tapped Bianca with flat of his forearms and made a gesture at Jazz. "Yes. She's always like this."

"Except when she's angry." Nico noted as Fuse sent a light spark at Conifer. "Would you two quit it?"

The interior of the gym was much like the outside: stone with oak supports. The design left the electrical wiring exposed but, more importantly to Jazz let the sounds off battle bounce off of the walls. The lobby had desk to the right a stone stairway in the center. "Welcome. Are you challengers?" The girl's accent, one that none of them could place, gave away that she wasn't local.

"I'm the only one." Jazz said.

"Trainer ID card please." Jazz handed her card over and the girl swiped it on her console. "You have a Five Star direct? That is very interesting. However, Mr. Brock is currently engaged with a challenger. I can guarantee that your match will be next."

"Fine with me." Jazz said as she took her ID back.

"Please take the stairs to the very top. There will be bleachers either to the right or to the left."

"Thanks." Jazz said before giving the girl a once over to observe curves. Then twice, for her freckled face and brown hair. Then a third for the road. Before she got to the fourth Beat smacked upside the head. "Ow! Hey! I need that!"

"So do we." Beat said. "But we need it on topic."

"Please just concentrate on the battle." Rhythm said as the girl began to giggle.

"Yeah, yeah, when don't I?" Jazz flashed her smile then began her way up the stairs. After a few flights which lead to other battlefields, they reached the top and went to the right bleachers across from the battle screen. Unlike the Viridian gym, the referee was above the battlefield in the catwalks. The battlefield itself was made of somewhat thick dirt.

The gym battle was a two-on-two. A boy, no older than twelve, was currently down to one Pokémon, a Roselia, against Brock's Amaura. Brock was not wearing a shirt, revealing his chiseled physique and the tribal style tattoo depicting an Onix coiled around his left arm. "Never seen that Pokémon before…" Nico said as he pulled out his Pokédex.

"Amaura: the tundra Pokémon. These docile Pokémon lived millions of years ago in near arctic climates to avoid predators. The crystals along its side allow these Pokémon not only to control ice but, to regulate their body temperature. The bioluminescent sails along their heads and neck are believed to have been used in communication. Note: only researchers or licensed trainers are permitted to own these Pokémon. If any are seen in the possession of other parties, please report them to the appropriate authorities."

As the Pokédex relayed this information, the battle continued. "Toxic Spikes!"

From the thorns on top of the Rosalia's head, wads of purple energy shot into the air before forming into caltrops that floated in the air. Jazz judged the battle as already being over.

"Aurora Beam." Focused between the fins, a rainbow colored beam was fired and landed a direct hit on the Roselia. "Hyper Voice!" A shock wave, tinted light blue, carried across the battlefield leaving patches of ice in its wake. The Rosalie was knocked straight backwards crashing into its trainer who was in turned pushed of his stone pedestal and to the ground. For moment the boy looked at his Pokémon in hopes it could continue but, quickly returned it to its Pokéball.

"The challenger's Roselia is unable to battle! The challenger has no more able Pokémon! The victory goes to my big brother!" The referee an eight year old at most said enthusiastically.

"Tilly, what have I said about being biased?" Brock said as he began to make his way across the battlefield.

"All trainers are to be treated equally in the eyes of the referee. Under no circumstances should favoritism be shown," she recited. Brock just looked at her for another moment. "I'm sorry, um…" Tilly tapped her chin.

Brock sighed and help the trainer his feet. "If I may, you shouldn't try to use moves like Spikes unless you're sure the opponent's gonna switch. Also, when going against Pokémon you have type advantage over, assume that they know moves to address their weaknesses. Basic, I know but, the fundamentals can't be overstressed."

"Yeah," The boy said. He walked off the battlefield and down the stairs.

Brock turned to find his Amaura rubbing her head against his pants. He petted her and said. "You did great as always but, it looks like you won't be able to help in this next battle." He returned her and looked at the screen as he walked back to his side. As Jazz walked onto to battlefield and placed Rhythm and Beat in their Pokéballs, Brock switched his Pokéballs with four from a rack. He placed his fingers in his mouth let out a high pitched whistle that echoed through the gym. Sky Eater responded by bursting through the ground further signaling his presence with a roar before entering his Pokéball.

"So, Jazz, mind if I…huh!?" When he looked up he found that she'd removed her jacket, scarf, and shirt leaving only a black sports bra to cover her breasts. "Why!?"

"Why not?" Jazz tossed her top off the battlefield right as the force field came on. "Now you were saying?"

"Right… If you don't mind me asking, why did you become a trainer?"

She raised an eyebrow for instant before she said, "Not particularly complicated reasons: money, women, revenge, and because fightin's just plain fuckin' fun. So we gonna battle or not?"

"Of course," He said. "Tilly, if you may."

"Got it, Brock." She said. "The following will be a five on five single Pokémon battle between Jazz Heterodyne of Pyrite Town, henceforth referred to as the challenger and Brock Takeshi the Pewter Gym Leader, henceforth referred to as the Gym Leader! During the battle either side is allowed substitutions! During the battle either side may only have four Pokémon on their person! The conditions for victory are that all of the opposing side's Pokémon are rendered unable to battle! Upon victory the challenger will automatically receive the Boulder Badge! Upon defeat the challenger may receive the Boulder Badge based upon the Gym Leader's evaluation! Do both trainers understand these conditions!?"

"Damn straight!"

"Of course."

"Both trainers may send in their first Pokémon!"

"Rurutia, it's show time." Her Chansey emerged from her Pokéball, with an Eviolite around her neck.

"Abyss, break them down!" A Cradily was Brock's choice.

"Are both trainers ready?" Both of them confirmed. "Begin!"

"Toxic!" Jazz shouted. Brock, however, gave a whistle. The result was that both sides hurled poison at one another than ended up splashing in the air. The slime splattered across the ground before rapidly evaporating. "Oh, this gonna take a while."

Brock gave a different whistle and Abyss hurled a Sludge Bomb at Rurutia. She moved as quickly as her stubby legs could carry her and cleared the splash zone. The Cradily's movements were even slower than Rurutia's as she dragged herself across the ground to avoid an Egg Bomb.

"Um…" Nico watched as the two Pokémon fired at one another from distance. "What exactly's gonna happen."

"I don't know." Bianca admitted. "Both Chansey and Cradily rely on their defenses in battle to wear down opponents. The key to using them in any significant offensive capacity is through status effects. But in this case neither side wants to give the other a chance to get that in. On top of that there's no telling what they might be planning.

It was slow paced and almost dull to watch but, neither Jazz nor Brock seemed calmed by this pace. Each of them watched the battle go by. Each waited for an opening. They wanted their opponent to leave just one opening, just one chance to tip the scale. "Burning Down the House: Track 4!" Rurutia lobbed a volley of Egg Bombs that she set on fire with Flamethrower. Brock whistled and, Abyss defended herself with Protect. The flaming eggs rained down exploding on impact into burst of fire to no effect. But, right as Protect faded and the last bomb fell, she was struck with Incinerate. Abyss casually shrugged the flames but Jazz's goal of ruining her Leftovers was a success. "Bingo." Jazz mumbled. "Rurutia, Beautiful Nightmare: Track 4!"

At that moment Rurutia blurred out of sight and poorly made decoy was left in her place. Brock cocked his head at the move. He realized that destroying the decoy would take more effort than time it take Rurutia to restore her stamina but, at the same time the Chansey couldn't do any real damage that wouldn't be healed just as quickly. He whistled a simple one note tone: wait.

For five minutes straight both trainers stood in silence. By this point another trainer waiting for her gym battle had wandered in and asked if anyone knew what was happening. Both Bianca and Nico shrugged as they watched. Battles that get replayed on television are always exciting in that instant. They're shows of athleticism and displays of the intense on the spot decision making that true masters of battle seek to achieve in every match. If this battle had been televised most people would've tuned out. But being there in person was possibly even worse. Two trainer were standing locked in each other eyes, each waiting for the other to make a move. Those who watched grew sick of it. Not in the way of boredom. The tension was palpable. It was uncomfortable to watch making all present feel nauseous. Still all of them felt glued in place with lump locked in their throats and, none of them dared look away. Time just ticked along without them.

-#-

Squad four tried. They tried to keep up with Billie's stride when they went running. They tried to lift like she could in the weight room. They tried to block her punches and kicks while they were sparring. And they tried to keep up with her in Pokémon battles. Raoul was only one who came close to succeeding. Between hoarse breathes Tony asked, "Why us?"

"Because I know you all won't stab me in the back." Billie said as she wiped some sweat off her head with a towel.

Their intensive training had begun two days earlier. After the events in Viridian Forest, she'd been called into Noah's office with a proposition: lead an elite strike force to deal with Team Rocket's high end targets. Noah had questioned her choice of members as well. While certainly above the curve, Squad Four weren't even the best of the grunts. "It's simple really." She's told him. "I'm loyal to the idea using Pokémon in the pursuit of self-indulgence. They're loyal me, meaning you don't have to worry about them going rouge on us."

"And what about you?" He'd asked.

"That depends on what direction Team Rocket goes in the future."

And there they were on the ground and out of breath. At the time they'd heard of it, they could only think of the perks: their own private rooms on base, more money, and less busy work. Raoul tried to warn them that the downsides might outweigh the benefits but, they hadn't listened. "Take it easy for the rest of the day. Our first mission is tomorrow. You'll all need to be at your best."

"It's just a museum right?" Sally said.

"One with one of the most advanced security systems in the world." Raoul said. "On of that there's a team of private contractors as the exhibit's personal guard. They aren't trainers, they're soldiers."

"Whoa!" Mark hopped to his feet. "Are we sure this is a good idea? I mean how do we even beat guys like that?"

"How many times have we gone over the plan again?" Billie asked.

"Once every four hours between the periods of eight AM to twelve AM." Logainne said.

"Precisely. And how many times have I mentioned fighting soldiers?"

"None." Mark admitted.

"So at twelve PM when we're going over the plan, do think you I'm going to add fighting trained soldiers to it."

"No."

"Exactly. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a shower." She left the training hall and began to walk down the hall. "And if you want to stare at my ass, at least ask."

Four heads went in four different directions in shame.

-#-

Twenty minutes had gone by. Twenty minutes of an impenetrable stillness lingered on the battlefield set between Jazz and Brock. Yet no one dared to turn their eyes away. Another trainer had earned the right to challenge Brock and found himself staring at two people staring at each other, neither one wearing a shirt. Every now and then the sound of a battle elsewhere in the gym echoed into the main stage causing the spectators to jump but, the trainers and their Pokémon remained unflinching.

Finally something happened. It was flicker, a slight blur of Rurutia's substitute. The air thinned, Both trainer's stiff forms sprung to life without moving. Both of them scanned the battlefield as the substitute began to fade and Rurutia's presence was exposed. Brock whistled and Abyss fired a Sludge Bomb. Rurutia used Flamethrower.

Jazz was the only one who didn't gasp at the noxious fumes that suddenly filled the battlefield. Instead she slammed down some Pecha berries with one hand and switched Rurutia with Beat who mega evolved on entry. Brock followed suit. "Deep Core, Safeguard." Both Brock and the Carbink were veiled in white light as the gas began to pass them.

"Metal Claw!" Beat charged through the gas with silver claws wrapped around her own. Brock's whistle came with the order of Protect blocking Beat and a follow up of Iron Defense. "Calm Mind, then House Mafia: Track 1!" Her body was outlined magenta and moved quickly to surround Deep Core and prepare an Aura Sphere. The Carbink's immediate response was to glow brown. The earth beneath split open and brown light caught both Pokémon. Deep Core was withdrawn as Beat regained her footing.

"Gray Star, mega evolve!" A Mega Aerodactyl lumbered over Beat, it gray skin tinted purple and unencumbered by status effects.

"Well?" Beat glanced at Jazz.

"Well, we're officially wingin' it." Jazz smiled and waved at the poison gas that was lingering as opposed dissipating. "Not much else we can do…Rain Dance!" Gray Star had already gotten to work, firing Stealth Rock into the air. A blue orb formed in Beat's hands and flew into the air forming a rain shower. Jazz watched as the rain poured onto the battlefield and cleared the gas. The Mega Aerodactyl flung forward at Brock's whistled with steam venting from its mouth where water hit the fire. "Beat, withdraw! Rurutia, Thunder Wave!"

The Stealth Rocks as expected flew at Rurutia right as the Mega Aerodactyl approached. He was swatted a few times before climbing to higher altitude. When they hit Rurutia, she responded with a weak electric charge that danced across the stones before they retreated back into air. "Beautiful Nightmare: track 12"

Rurutia created another substitute that Gray Star descended on with Fly. Before pulling back for the blow that would destroy the substitute, a ball of glowing water collided with him before bursting open in outward wave. Brock whistled as Gray Star brushed the attack off. He opened his mouth and unleashed a distorted cry. Rurutia's true body hazed into view long enough for Gray Star to line up a Wing Attack causing the substitute to fade and Rurutia to be sent flying into the force field. She was given no time to breathe. Gray Star immediately followed through with an Iron Head that pressed her between him and the field.

"Rurutia, withdraw! Rhythm, it's show time!" Jazz placed Rhythm near the center of the battlefield where the Stealth Rocks followed. "Future Sight: Side b: track 3 in two minutes!" Right after sending the attack forward, Rhythm teleported away from an incoming Iron Head. "Thunderbolt!" Rhythm fired the bolt of electricity from her body and something odd happened. When Gray Star swerved to safety, it pulled to one of the rocks floating in the air. The charge began bouncing to and fro before a light web a bouncing charge was formed that quickly faded. "There's an idea…Rhythm, withdraw! Beat, Magnet Rise!"

The switch happened and Beat followed instructions as the Stealth Rocks came at her. What Beat had expected was to gently rise into air then be hit by the rocks. What she got along with an uncontrollable yelp was being flung straight up, high enough to be eye level with Tilly. She fell back down and slowed to halt when she was waist level with the floating rocks. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Well, you've certainly managed to surprise me." Brock admitted and gave another whistle. Gray Star bore his flaming fangs again and came at Beat in a dive.

"Thunder Punch!" When Beat generated the electricity in her paw, she was pulled across the air and was battered through Gray Star who was sent careening to ground and carved a gouge out with his snout. When he got to his feet, the blue fires of Will-O-Wisp arrived inflicting a burn. The rain stopped. Brock signaled for a Flamethrower. Beat hadn't regained her bearings and when the fire arrived her floating form was unable to react in time. The flames died and Beat was still standing but, Jazz withdrew her and sent in Rhythm who took further damage from the Stealth Rocks. "Thunderbolt!"

Brock whistled and Gray Star climbed into the air above the Stealth Rocks which disrupted the attack. Gray Star was then switched with Deep Core who was ordered to use Safeguard. "Mean Look! Then Misty Terrain!" The purple and red aura cloaked Deep Core and pink mist the ground. "Energy Ball!" Three notes from Brock and a Protect came up before he was finished. "Don't let up and don't leave the ground!"

A whistled came and Deep Core covered it body in electricity and flew up level with the Stealth Rocks. "Thunderbolt!" This time the lightning seemed ready to strike true but, caged itself around Deep Core before branching off to strike the Stealth Rocks and blowing them apart. "I'll take it!" Jazz said as Deep Core dropped to the ground. "Synchronoise!" A magenta shockwave accompanied by a distorted voice carried across the battlefield. Deep Core seized when the wave passed and left the Carbink in daze. Brock whistled again and Deep Core suddenly charged. "Protect!" Rather than explode, Deep Core rammed into the Protect knocking the barrier out. "Fuck…" Then it exploded.

The bright flash and deafening boom prevented either trainer from seeing the results. Jazz was knocked off of her platform by the shockwave and scrambled to her feet as the light faded. The light fixtures from the catwalks rocked and a dust cloud floated across the battlefield. Rhythm and Deep Core were lying next to each both down for the count. "Both the challenger's Gardevoir and the gym leader's Carbink are unable to battle! Will both trainers send in their next Pokémon?"

"Beat! You're back on!"

"Abyss!"

"Continue!"

"Night Visions: track 2!" Beat left a burst of dust behind. Brock's whistle matched the first blow from a Focus Punch that even a Cradily was sent reeling from. Dust was kicked up from the trail Beat was taking. The dirt was carved into the path that she taking. Beat's second pass knocked Abyss off the ground sending her into flip. Brock withdrew her and released his final Pokémon.

In that moment Jazz took notice of two distinct things. First was that Beat's fur was standing on end all while patches of it glowed bright green. The second was that Sky Eater in the single instant he was above ground locked eyes with her. She realized then that Beat had been hit when Infestation. Before she said anything Beat used Magnet Rise. "Just like at Oak's lab."

"That'd be fine but, he's too deep underground and too fast!"

"Fuck…" She considered her options at this point. No doubt Sky Eater was far too deep underground for a non-STAB Earthquake to reach him. Thanks to Magnet Rise, Sky Eater had no way a locating Beat above ground leaving both Pokémon blind but, she'd seen enough of Brock's battles to know he could guide his Onix with ease. On the other hand, Jazz had no way of knowing when or from where Sky Eater would emerge, and he way too fast underground for Beat to ready a counterattack. Thanks to Infestation's Pokéball interference she couldn't substitute for at least three minutes.

" _I can end this in one shot_."

" _Yeah but, what about the Aerodactyl_?" Final Gambit would be able put down Sky Eater but, Beat would be guaranteed to faint from using it. Close Combat was another option but, leaving Beat vulnerable against even a weakened Gray Star was risky. " _We play defensively for now, until Infestation wears off but, don't hesitate to take clean shot. I'll signal for the Protect._ "

Jazz knew full she didn't have a way of predicting where Sky Eater would attack from but, she did have something to her advantage. She saw Brock breath inward and when he made the signal, Jazz shouted, "Now!"

Beat's Protect couldn't have come up a moment sooner. Sky Eater came at Beat from a diagonal angle from the ground and brought a coat of dirt up with him. His fin struck the Protect and knocked Beat over his back. The dirt hardened and spikes jutted out striking Beat higher into air. The result was a spike riddle tube that arched over the battlefield marking where Sky Eater had been better as the Sky Fang.

When Beat hit the ground, she pounded her fist down for an Earthquake that not only shook up the battlefield but, cracked the Sky Fang. Jazz almost let her inquiry of the attack's success slip before seeing Brock's fingers moved to his lips. "Now!" Jazz noticed the slight difference in pitch just too late.

A wave rolled across the ground rising up and lifted Beat pushed up then came back down. The crest stopped a few meters in front of Jazz. It remained solid and Sky Eater burst out of the ground in the space the wall and Jazz. His tail swept across the wall launching stones at Beat. She dodged around using Extreme Speed but a wall was too much. For one brief instant Beat was underneath the rocks. Sky Eater dropped into the ground for that instant and used Earthquake.

The platform Jazz stood on was pushed upward and stumbling to the ground. When she stood back, Beat was in the air and Sky Eater was lunging towards her with a tube of rocks following. She blocked with Protect but was still knocked in the force field on Brock's side. "How's that Infestation?"

"I'm clear!" Beat withdrawn and Rurutia replaced her.

"Beautiful Nightmare: track 2!" The Substitute was created and Rurutia was out of sight. The Chansey waited for the whistle that came in two notes. Her Will-O-Wisp was blocked by Protect. Sky Eater crashed into the Substitute and dragged it underground leaving Rurutia exposed. He emerged right in front of Jazz and dragged a Sky Fang behind. Bianca and Nico cringed as Sky Eater's head collided with Rurutia's entire body. She flew across the battle and staggered onto her feet with Sky Eater nowhere in sight. "Withdraw. Jimi, it's show time!"

Jimi let out a deep growl when he formed on the field. He turned his and eye the uneven ground Jazz was standing on. Before she gave a single command, he launched straight up from underneath. "Stockpile!" Jimi's throat glowed white as Sky Eater wrapped his tail around his shell. Jimi was slammed into the ground next to Jazz before Sky Eater retreated again. "Is he in range?" Jazz took the lack of another Earthquake as no.

Onix are faster than Steelix and contrary to popular belief can hit just as hard if trained well. Sky Eater was living testament to that. On top of that Jazz had no doubt that he'd been using Harden and Rock Polish while underground. The preference for Steelix comes from Mega Evolution and wider move pool. With all that in mind, Jazz realized Jimi could only take so much punishment and few more rounds of hit and run would be a disaster. "Grassy Terrain. Then Earthquake when you feel him coming."

Grass spread across the field. When Brock whistled, one high pitch note and one low, Jimi reared on his legs and dropped an Earthquake reminding Jazz that he was a few meters away from her by knocking her into the force field. Sky Eater came up immediately after unharmed, swatted Jimi with an Iron Tail to the center of the battlefield, and dove again. "Jimi, what just happened?" Jimi answered by bobbing his head up and down. "A feint, huh? High then low…Woodstock: track 2."

Brock next whistled started with its high pitch. The second was interrupted by Jazz's own high pitched note. To onlookers it sounded like the notes contrasted one another and neither sounded clear. Sure enough, Sky Eater burst out of the ground right into an enhanced Wood Hammer. He sent through air and crashed into barrier in front of Bianca, Impala, and Nico's seats. He shook his head then dove back underground.

"One more solid hit…" Brock gave a whistle that Jazz didn't recognize. "Synthesis." Jimi's body glowed bright and much of the damage he'd incurred was healed.

The only sign that Sky Eater was about to attack came from Jimi's reaction right before Sky Eater pushed him into the air again. He followed through with another Slam then went right back underground. He came back before Jimi could recover and hit with an Iron Tail this time leaving a Sandstorm at Brock's command. "Vans Warped: track 1!"

Sky Eater came back with the intent of delivering the final blow. The sandstorm stopped and was pulled into Jimi. With the brown glow around his body he brought his feet down right before Iron Head landed. The entire battlefield was upheaved like crater had formed around Jimi. Jazz and Brock were knocked into force field and slid forward into battlefield. Sky Eater was down.

"Are they okay?" Nico said. Impala was flittering his wings. From their and Bianca's perspective the battlefield had shifted up four feet. Jazz and Brock got to their feet as the rocks settled. Jazz for her part, was chuckling.

Tilly poked her head over the railing, "Sky Eater is unable to battle. Will the Gym Leader…"

"Nope. I've seen enough." Brock walked over to Sky Eater and stroked his head and fin before returning him.

"Huh?" Jazz squinted her eyes. "Why?"

"Like I said, my job is to evaluate your skill as a trainer. You've proven you're more than worthy of holding the Boulder Badge."

He was holding the badge out in his hand. Jazz eyed the grey pin for the moment. She took it. "If you say so." She then returned Jimi to his Pokéball.

When the force field went down some of the raised dirt spilled in the surrounding floor. "Sorry everyone." Brock said addressing the waiting challengers. "It'll take at least twenty minutes to reset the gym floor." Jazz turned around to retrieve her things. Brock approached as Jazz pulled on her shirt and jackets both with fresh dirt on them.

"Anything else."

"Just a piece of advice. Be careful who show that technique where your Pokémon absorb field effects to." Jazz looked him dead in the eyes. "It might lead to some unwanted questioning."

"Too late for that." She said. Bianca, Nico, and Impala rejoined her and Beat let herself out.

"What was that about?" Bianca asked as they began their way down to the lobby.

"Just some shit that went down with Norman a few years ago. Nothin' to worry about." Jazz began rolling her shoulders. "Crap, that hurt."

"Oh, poor Jazz. She got thrown into a wall." Beat began. "Well at least she didn't get flung around like an electromagnetic rag doll. That would've been awful."

"Are you kiddin' me?" Jazz's eye went wide. "If we practice that move with Tiësto he'll be damn near unstoppable! Besides, the Pokémon Center'll patch you up good as new. After that it's off to Mt. Moon then Cerulean City."

"Oh, maybe we can meet Bill while we're there." Bianca said.

"Who's that?" Nico asked.

"He's the one who created the Pokémon Transmission system. C'mon, short stuff, even I know that."

"Which is impressive considering your fairly limited fields of interest." Beat said.

"Why you…"

"Alright you two, settle down." Bianca stepped between them. "For now let's enjoy your hard earned badge."

Jazz flipped the badge like a coin. All eyes watched as it fell down and landed pin side up.

 **Please review if you have time.**


	9. I Wish That I was in Your Shoes

**Chapter 9**

 **I Wish That I was in Your Shoes**

The path of flames before Logainne in the wooded area between Pewter City and Mt. Moon was only slightly less imposing than the seven G-men who we're chasing her. One of their Arcanine had set the trees on fire in a desperate attempt to stop the thieves' escape. That Arcanine had been crushed to death by Athena. On top of the fire, the weight of the Arceus plates and overall unrelenting pressure she felt behind caused Logainne to soak herself in sweat.

She had one way of calming down during this ordeal. Her eyes were staying dead set on Billie who was leading the group to their ATVs. Billie even among the red flames didn't lose her low emotion, high focus demeanor that Logainne admired. Billie, like she always did on missions, directed the actions of her team. Sally's Water types were told to only extinguish the flames that were between them and their vehicles and, the fires were reignited to cover their tracks. Anything that wasn't on their side was to be eliminated.

As far as Logainne knew, Billie wasn't scared. In fact, she noticed a small smirk on Billie's faced. Even when the plan fell apart and they were forced to make a much flashier exit than planned on, Billie only rolled with it. Right when the now dead Arcanine had her pinned against a display of old Kanto traditional clothing, Billie jumped down and wrapped her arms around its neck before letting Athena knock it away. Logainne hadn't even thanked her when Billie started giving the new escape plan.

What foliage wasn't on fire was more than happy to cut into Logainne clothes. They were different from the standard Team Rocket uniform lacking any disguising marks and were made of a much more durable fabric.

Logainne's legs were far too heavy. Billie's conditioning had just begun to take and left her lacking the stamina to maintain full speed for very long which was compounded by the fact that she was losing water faster than usual. She pondered for a second why she'd joined Team Rocket in the first place and shook the thought from her mind by the next.

"Eyes on Billie…" She said to herself for what felt like the thousandth time. Running was always a matter of having her eyes Billie, the first person to have been nice to her since she joined Team Rocket, at least as nice Billie got. Raoul and the others seemed to be the same way, sticking around for their leader. When she first heard the mission plan she'd considered backing out right then. But something about the way Billie explained the plan, the matter of fact way she broke down the details, had kept her on board. Was it the same for the rest of the former Squad Four of Unit 3?

Before she'd dropped that thought, she was unloading her backpack full of stolen artifacts into an ATV. Each one had four seats and was designed to hover as opposed to leaving tire tracks. Logainne was with Billie and Tony.

-#-

To the east and Nico's right stood Mt. Moon, with the full of its name's sake over its summit. To his left in the busted up seating area were trainers ranging from eleven to their mid-twenties yelling and hollering about whatever they thought of him and Jazz. A few people were standing on the wooden fence that surrounded the sandpit battlefield. Search lights hung in the four corners of the makeshift arena behind the Pokémon Center.

When Bianca had asked around the small town, they'd been told that it hadn't even existed a few years ago. A tourist company had set up shop by the mountain and the Center had been there much longer. It had already been a place where trainers who were near Mt. Moon gathered. Jazz called it the natural order of things. Trainers are drawn to one another looking for challenges and, the sandpit was a remnant of the past when the only travelers were trainers.

In front of them were Impala and Conifer. Their opponents were using a Clefairy and Machoke. Rhythm and Beat were behind them on the other side of the fence. Bianca had wondered off to somewhere more quiet so should talk to Roland on her X-Transceiver. Jazz had complained about it for a while on the day and a half hike from Pewter City.

Though, Nico had noticed that Jazz had been somewhat off since they'd left Pewter City. She seemed agitated like something was about to happen but just wouldn't. The night before, she'd been staring at the Boulder Badge like something was wrong with it. It was the first time he'd ever seen her unsure about something.

Since the two had begun to battle in the sandpit, however, she'd been back to her usual self, the one Nico had come to admire. Every command she gave came off as having an absolute certainty. If Jazz did have any doubt about her choices she didn't let it show. Impala, her recently caught Scyther, slowly grew used to taking orders in battle.

Jazz had made a point of telling Nico about the relationship between Pokémon and trainers. The trainer's job wasn't just to make their Pokémon were strong but also guide them in battle. Failure in this realm had two possible outcomes. If the trainers showed that they had doubt in their actions, then the Pokémon would doubt itself. Reactions would be slow and loss would be almost inevitable. The second was most likely to occur with species known for their pride. While not exactly accurate the internet had summed it up with a meme. "Not enough badges to train me? Not enough fucks to give you." There were horror stories of trainers being maimed or killed when Pokémon just plain didn't respect them enough to follow orders.

Dragonite was among those species that tended to disobey weak trainers. Icona seemed to obey before she'd finished her commands. Impala was getting there and only five days had gone by since she'd captured him. Conifer seemed almost conditioned to take orders when they'd met. Fuse just seemed to be happy doing whatever.

-#-

Their rendezvous point had been changed. Long range communication was cut off. Logainne could hear helicopters searching them. They were well off road and had blown through quite a few nests leaving a trail of angry Pokémon in their wake. In order get to the rendezvous, they would have to get through Mt. Moon all the way to the Cerulean Cape and somehow lose their pursuers.

She doubted they would pull it off and even if they did it wouldn't be unscathed. It was different from any mission they'd been on. Before she was just some low level grunt, carrying goods from place to place or selling or trekking through the wilds to find something or jump unsuspecting trainers. Now she had specific target on her back. She was one of the thieves who'd stolen priceless artifacts and Daddy would hate her for it if he didn't already.

Logainne had once asked Billie about her parents. She'd just shrugged and said she couldn't remember them. In way Logainne was jealous of that. Billie didn't have their smiles to remember but, also the looks of disappoint that Logainne had gotten every time she thought of home. No one had ever told Billie she wasn't trying hard enough when she trying her best. Billie had never been sent to her room for breaking a vase on accident. Still all that beat ending up in prison by a long shot.

Her thoughts flew by as fast as the trees. In her hand was Coneybear's Pokéball. Her Exeggutor and first Pokémon for the longest time had been her only friend in the world. She'd heard a cry for help one day and didn't find a human source but a bunch seeds bunch together. That's why the voice of anger she heard now was so frightening. "Our three o'clock!"

Billie hit the brakes and the ATV narrowly avoided the charging Nidoking. Athena and Coneybear were launched into battle and delivered a double Psychic without instruction. The Nidoking was down but, his trainer, the owner of the now dead Arcanine, sent in a Haxorus and Luxray. He charged at the stopped ATV right as Billie performed a donut. The back end hit him into a tree. Coneybear and Athena were withdrawn and Billie slammed the gas toward the moon where the second ATV had continued.

"Nice save, Logainne!" Tony moved for a high five but, her shivering kept her from accepting. She hadn't just heard what that man wanted to do to Billie. She'd seen it in vivid, disgusting detail. Now it was playing on repeat in her head and churning her stomach. She couldn't tell what was more terrifying: seeing those images or the point at which they abruptly came to a halt.

"Are you alright?" Billie asked. Logainne looked at her. Her voice held the control it always did but, Logainne heard something else: a genuine concern for her wellbeing. It was a feeling she hadn't felt in a very long time.

"Eyes on Billie…"

-#-

Icona swatted down a Pidgeotto with her tail bringing an anticlimactic end to the last battle of the night. She looked at Jazz with what Nico could only describe as a bored shitless expression. He let Conifer climb up his shoulder then followed Jazz out of the sandpit. The crowd had thinned out over the course of the night and by now everyone was ready to call it a day.

Nico noticed that whatever had been bugging Jazz had gone away. Her usual strut had returned in full force and, she dropped that stiffness she'd had. Chipper was never a word Nico would use to describe Jazz. Even in her usual upbeat mood, she always had eyes and ears on everything. The night made Nico more aware of this. Every hoot from a Noctowl made her eyes flicker.

When Jazz stopped moving forward so did the entire group as well as some trainers who were nearby. She closed her eyes and said, "Beat, you hear that?"

"Maglev engines. Right above us." Beat looked to the sky and growled something that Jazz and her other Pokémon took as a warning. They pulled Bianca and Nico down with them as a glob of white goo flew overhead and landed where Icona had been. "Incoming!"

A Salamence was diving towards them with a silver haired woman on its back who wore some kind of gauntlet on her arm. Surrounding them on all sides was a group of six Metang. Icona fired a Dragon Pulse at the Salamence. It veered to the right allowing a Metang to take the hit and plummet to the ground.

The Salamence landed and its rider hopped off. Being surrounded by trainers, who clearly weren't happy to see her, did not concern the woman. "You're pretty sharp, kid. I'll give you that. Hand over your shiny Dragonite, and no one gets hurt."

Nico shuttered when Icona let out a Dragon Rage through her nostrils. He looked at Jazz and saw that those eyes of hers had returned. A pocket knife was gripped in her hand and pointed forward. Somehow her teeth seemed to become razor sharp. He had no idea who this woman was but, she was different from the bug catcher back in Viridian Forest. She didn't flinch at all. The trainers nearby took their time backing away.

The woman just sneered. "Hyper Beam!" The Salamence's attack carved the ground in front of them and created a wall of explosions and dust. Jazz put Icona back in her Pokéball then ran through the dust with Rhythm and Beat. A beam yellow pierced through to their side right after and struck a trainer's Breloom. It then turned to brown stone.

As the dust cleared, Nico saw Jazz get knocked to the ground with a punch. Rhythm and Beat were fighting off the Salamence and the five Metang. The woman pointed her gauntlet at Jazz but, a knife had been jammed into the barrel. Jazz took that moment of realization to tackle the woman.

Behind them, Pokémon Center staff and local law enforcement were running. "Everybody freeze!" One of them said. Jazz was pushed away and the Salamence whipped up a gust of wind that blew Rhythm and Beat away. When the woman leapt onto her Pokémon she was clutching the bloody side of her neck. She and the three remaining Metang then fled into the sky.

-#-

All hell had broken loose and Logainne wasn't sure how to deal with it. Even with the cover of night, somehow the G-men kept finding them and catching up. The ATVs had been stopped and Logainne was playing tower keep along with Mark. The other four were fighting to clear a path. Marcy stopped a Staraptor with Telekinesis then flung it a Poliwrath.

"Eyes on Billie…" She couldn't see Billie but knew that she was a few meters behind her fighting through G-men left and right. Despite everything Billie showed a level head, though Logainne could feel what went on beneath the surface. Even Billie was considering the worst case scenario.

With the exception of Raoul, her other teammates weren't even close to as good at putting up the front. Mark was desperately wishing to see his friends back in Kalos. Maria dominated Tony's eyes. Sally seemed angry at her parents. Jonny wanted to return to his old dingy home in Vermillion City.

Worst of all was the G-men. All black outfits with body armor made them blend together on the surface and underneath their minds were the same. Team Rocket was the scum Earth. They had no shame. Every member deserved a cold dark cell to themselves. They thought as one and acted as one seeking to destroy all that stood in their path.

Her Daddy and Papa would see on the news about how their daughter whom they'd given everything was going to prison and they would smile. She'd deserve it. The G-men agreed. Their anger and hatred bore into her like a spoiled child's screaming. Their neurons sent bursts of anger to hers, telling her how evil she was. Everything that would happen to her was earned. She heard them like she was surrounded by a thousand angry Beedrill.

Logainne covered her ears and collapsed onto the dirt. She only wanted them to go away and she got better. The trees that surrounded them had sprung to life. The G-men and their Pokémon were ensnared and dragged to ground. She heard an arm snap and desperate plea for help. Tony's arms were wrapped around her waist and, Billie withdrew her Pokémon. Amidst the screams of damned men she was dragged into the ATV and fled.

-#-

The name Pokémon Hunter J had shown Nico a brand new mood of Jazz's: frenzied anticipation. She paced the floor of their room pounding her fist into her hand. There was distinct jittering in her teeth that Rhythm and Beat seemed to recognize. "If I bring her in, I'll be set for years!" Jazz said when she finally stopped.

"That seems needlessly dangerous, don't ya think?" Bianca said. "Besides, do we really need that kind of money?"

"You two don't need that kind of money with your rich parents and your fancy internships. So excuse me for wantin' a taste of the good life for once."

"Who has rich parents?" Bianca asked.

Nico just quietly raised his hand and realized he'd never mentioned that to Bianca. "My dad's the owner and CEO of Sharpedo Shipping."

"Seriously?" Bianca said. "Well that's another reason to avoid J. What if she tries to use Nico as ransom or something?"

"What if the Rockets try the same thing? You haven't said anything about that." Bianca had no real response. "Besides, the hell's 'we' stuff anyway? J's my bounty. It's my money. Unless you two have any objections." She was looking at Rhythm and Beat.

"Your bank account is currently at 2,178." Rhythm's statement sent Jazz's face from brown to beige.

Nico looked at his PokéNav and saw he had four missed calls. He slipped into the small bathroom and called the number: his house. Two rings later, and it was answered. "Hello, Nico, is that you?" His dad said.

"Yeah, Dad. What's up?"

"Nothing, really. Just checking up on you." He said. "Little late to call back, don't you think?"

"Um, yeah. Me and Jazz were battling outside the Pokémon Center and, I didn't want you and Mom to start worrying."

He got a somber laugh in response. "Son, we worry every time you're out of our sight and, nothing's going to change that. So how'd you two do?"

"We racked, like, twenty straight wins. Jazz did most of the heavy lifting though."

"I'm sure you did great, Nico. Speaking of, how'd her gym battle go?"

"It was kinda weird actually. After she beat Sky Eater, Brock handed her the badge without finishing the match."

"She managed to take that behemoth down!?" His dad seemed genuinely surprised to hear that. When Nico confirmed it he said, "Well, I'll be. Oh, your mother wants to talk to you."

Nico could hear the handset beings passed before his mom said, "Hi, sweetie. How's everything going?"

"Fine, Mom. We're going through Mt. Moon tomorrow."

"Mt. Moon? Oh, maybe you can catch one those Clefairy while you're in there. I saw one at the market today and it was so cute." Nico's mother had a bizarre obsession with "cute" Pokémon and as result had every one of the so called Eeveelutions running around their house. "Say, how's your Pichu doing?"

"Fuse evolved actually. And Conifer's doing good too."

"Mhm, that's nice." She replied. "Oh, your dad wants the phone back. Love you, Nico."

"Love you too." The handset was passed again. "Anything else?"

"Just a quick question: do you have any idea when you'll be in Saffron City?"

"No clue why?"

"Well, I've got an invitation to a League business conference since I'm co-sponsoring the Slateport Open this year and thought we could meet up before or after."

"Yeah, that sounds good. I'll tell you once we've got a plan. Bye."

"Bye. And remember: we're proud of you."

"I know."

 **Please review if you have the time.**


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